Series 1: Episode Four
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: 2nd November 1832
Anne writes...
Highlighted above
We fretted ourselves to sleep last night…
The tears silently trickling from my cheeks down hers…
On awaking found myself as tearful as ever...
Just before getting up I got scissors, took up her night chemise and attempted to cut the lock but kissed her queer, gave her the scissors, said she must cut it for me herself…
Later in the diary entry
She hung upon me and cried and sobbed aloud at parting…
‘Well’, said I to myself as I walked off, ‘a pretty scene we have had but surely I care not much and shall take my time of suspense very quietly’.
A bump in the road
By November 1832 a dark secret from Ann Walker’s past had cast a cloud over her future with Anne Lister.
In Episode 4, we see Anne make a tearful diary entry full of her characteristic bravado; she’s upset by Ann’s inability to commit to their permanent companionship.
What we don’t see in Gentleman Jack is Ann Walker give her a lock of her pubic hair as a memento of their time together!
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.
