Anne Lister’s diaries 1833-38: As Good As A Marriage? Leeds

Meet the historian whose book, Female Fortune: the Anne Lister diaries 1833-36, inspired Sally Wainwright to write the tv drama ‘Gentleman Jack’ (BBC1/HBO, 2019 & 2022). Jill Liddington, author of Female Fortune, will give a talk to launch the sequel, As Good As A Marriage: the Anne Lister diaries 1836-38 (2023, MUP).

This book tracks the daily life of Anne Lister and Ann Walker living together at Shibden Hall, in a marriage understood to be binding. Lister’s diaries are five million words long, about a sixth written in her secret code,  allowing us to eavesdrop onto the intimate conversations between Anne and Ann. Was their relationship ‘as good as a marriage’? In the early-nineteenth century, what rights and freedoms did women in conventional marriages have?

Following Jill’s talk, we’ll host a Q&A, exploring the intimate worlds of same-sex relationships between women then, and how Lister’s inherited landed status and religious beliefs enabled her to live a life of relative sexual freedom. To celebrate the publication of this book, the talk will be followed by a drinks reception.

Dr Jill Liddington is an Honorary Research Fellow at CIGS, University of Leeds. A feminist historian, she has written on the Votes for Women campaigns and on Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax. More information about Jill’s significant contribution to women’s history can be found on her website and in her recent post for the CIGS blog. This event is run jointly by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (CIGS) and the School of History’s Women, Gender and Sexuality research cluster.