About Anne Listers' diary for 14 - 19 August 1819

Introduction

The political atmosphere of this era was particularly tense. Radical elements were chafing more than ever at the repressive policies of a government which had not yet recovered from the fear engendered by the excesses of the French Revolution. Reform was in the air but a long, hard battle had yet to be fought before the 1832 Reform Act could at least clear the way for further emancipation. Anne Lister was very much alive to the seething subversion in the North of England. Her sympathies, however, were not with the radicals and reformers. After reading “a most seditious, rousing article” in the Manchester Guardian, “one of the most inflammatory radical papers published”, she exclaimed: “What will not these demagogues advance, careless what absurdity or ruin they commit!”

On a more domestic note, Isabella Norcliffe, Anne’s former lover, was paying a long-term visit to Shibden Hall. She arrived on Thursday 24th June, 1819 and did not leave until Monday 27th September 1819. Although Anne felt that Isabella’s company could be tiresome at times, nevertheless she felt depressed when Isabella left her. “Everything looked forlorn and deserted…I want a companion. But I must side my things and think only of study.”

Selected passage

In these extracts, some light is thrown upon the chequered relationship between Anne and Isabella (or Tib, as her friends called her). The two women had been lovers for a period of some four years (1809-1813) until Anne fell in love with Mariana Lawton (née Belcombe). Isabella was loth to give Anne up and, after Mariana’s marriage to Charles Lawton in 1816, Anne unenthusiastically resumed her on-off affair with Isabella. However, despite her loneliness and longing for a life-partner, Anne realised that her future did not lie with Isabella, as this lengthy visit proved to her.

Guests though, however tiresome, have to be entertained and here we get some flavour of social life at Shibden Hall. A little more insight into Anne’s ambivalent feelings towards her parents is provided and also Anne’s descriptions and comments on the political events of the day.

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