Series 1: Episode Six
The Real Diaries of Anne Lister
Gentleman Jack is based on the real diaries of Anne Lister, who sometimes wrote in code to disguise her innermost thoughts.
Here we have selected extracts from the diary and explain how they feature in the episode.
In Anne's Diary: 11th January 1833
Anne writes...
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Her mind was distracted, and she could not say her prayers as she ought to do. Talked and reasoned calmly, then turned, and pretended to sleep. She refused all affection, and I did not press it. She scarcely I think closed her eyes until after 3, when I bade her repeat the Lord’s Prayer incessantly till I think she dropped into a doze for a little while.
Ann's Mental Health
By the start of 1833, Ann Walker’s mental health had taken a shocking downturn.
The night terrors we see in Episode 6 of Gentleman Jack are taken from Anne Lister’s diary accounts. She frequently stayed the night with Ann Walker to offer what comfort she could.
In Anne's Diary: 17th February 1833
Mrs Sutherland vulgar, which would have been sooner and more easily perceived, had she been less quiet. She had dirty nails.
Captain good-hearted and well enough, but evidently not a high-bred highlander…
Thought I, ‘well, poor girl, what a set she is getting amongst’.
Anne's Snobbery
Eventually it was decided that Ann Walker should travel to Scotland with her brother-in-law and his mother to recover.
Anne’s account of her meeting with Captain and Mrs Sutherland – which we see at the end of Episode 6 – demonstrates her snobbish side. Her diaries reveal a preoccupation with the state of people’s hands and nails – it was often one of the first things on which she judged people.
Learn more
Anne Lister’s diaries – along with other items that belonged to her – are kept at the Calderdale Archives in Halifax.
Visit their website to find out more, and practice your mastery of Anne’s code on high-resolution digitised scans of every page.
