Exhibition cracks the code on a remarkable woman

Anne Lister is often acclaimed as the country's "first modern lesbian", but she was also a fascinating, complicated figure – a snobbish landowner, industrialist, traveller and diarist.

Now the West Yorkshire Archive Service, which recently worked with Oxford Films during the filming of a documentary to accompany the upcoming BBC drama The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, is to stage an exhibition about her.

The programme is presented by comedy writer and presenter Sue Perkins and the archive service offered access to its records.

To mark this collaboration it has developed a new exhibition telling the compelling story of Miss Lister (1791-1840) of Shibden Hall, a remarkable woman who has left an even more remarkable written legacy which intrigues and inspires people all over the world.

The exhibition will feature images of her original diaries which total some four million words in 27 volumes as well as decoded extracts giving glimpses of the wonders contained within and the many aspects of her character and life.

She was also a lesbian who, despite needing to keep her sexual orientation secret from society at large, defied the conventions of her times by living with and "marrying" her female lover, Ann Walker, a neighbouring heiress.

She kept a detailed account of her life, loves and emotions in a fascinating and painfully honest journal. A sixth of it was written in code and the deciphering of these diaries provides an astonishing insight into her life.

The diaries were published in 1992 by Helena Whitbread who spent six years deciphering them. She said: "The code was deciphered by the last Lister to live at Shibden Hall, John Lister and his schoolmaster friend Arthur Burrell from Bradford.

"They were absolutely horrified by the sex – this was in Oscar Wilde country after all.

"Arthur Burrell wanted to burn them but John Lister was an antiquarian and couldn't bear to destroy them so they hid them behind some panels and were only discovered later. As for the so-called marriage it was largely a symbolic affair and picturesque."

Although the word "lesbian" would not have been part of Miss Lister's vocabulary there is no doubting her passionate enthusiasm for "the fairer sex".

She wrote: "My heart revolts from any other love than theirs", and she was adept at charming and wooing those similarly inclined.

Highly educated, her abilities were such that she inherited one of Calderdale's most glittering jewels, Shibden Hall in Halifax, from her uncle who was impressed by her business acumen.

Miss Lister and Ann Walker lived at Shibden Hall together and enjoyed travelling the world. She was at her partner's side when she died in 1840 after contracting a fever on a trip to the Caucasus mountains in Russia.

Miss Lister was buried in Halifax Parish Church.

The chief officer of West Yorkshire Joint Services, which delivers the archive service, Graham Hebblethwaite, said: "This is an exciting opportunity for West Yorkshire Archive Service to open up a fascinating collection.

"When the documentary and drama are aired the interest in the Lister archive will increase and we hope this exhibition gives a sneak preview of this wonderful collection."

Viewers can visit the exhibition on the first floor of the Central Library, Halifax until May 1. Some of the original diaries will be on display too.

The exhibition will also be travelling to Shibden Hall and other Calderdale Library sites. It will also go national, first in Hove before touring local libraries, ending up in London.

SECRETS HIDDEN IN UNFORGIVING AGE

The reason for the secret code in her diaries was so Miss Lister could describe her lesbian encounters. Male homosexuality was illegal at the time. One sixth of the entries were encrypted.

Miss Lister attended Manor School in York and from an early age – 15 – recognised she was exclusively attracted to her own sex.

Her father John Lister was a soldier who had fought in the American War of Independence in 1775.

Miss Lister, aged 34, inherited Shibden Hall from her Uncle James who died in 1826. She made major renovations to the land but was never to see the culmination of her designs as she died abroad in 1840.

In early 1834 Miss Lister and a neighbouring heiress Anne Walker exchanged rings. On Easter Sunday the two women attended Goodramgate church. Miss Lister recorded: "The first time I ever joined Miss W(alker] in my prayers – I had prayed that our union might be happy."