-
Ann’s Mourning of Anne
This blog seeks to show the ways in which Ann Walker explicitly and implicitly mourned her wife after her death in 1840. She would not have been able to grieve in the way we would expect a widow to do so due to the lack of acknowledgment and acceptance of the true nature of their relationship within wider society. These facts are based on primary resources found in the archives. Anne’s Death and Ann’s Return Anne Lister died in September 1840 while travelling with Ann Walker in Kutaisi, Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire. Although it is not known exactly what Anne Lister died of, letters found by a…
-
Lydia Fenton (née Wilkinson)
Updated 3/7/2023 This research blog post explores the long-standing friendship between Ann Walker and Lydia Fenton (née Wilkinson). Early Years Born in 1796, Lydia was the fourth daughter of Rev. Robert Wilkinson and his wife Sarah Robinson, of Heath, just outside Halifax. They had a large family of eight children, five daughters and three sons. The sons and one daughter never lived to adulthood. Rev. Robert Wilkinson was the curate of Lightcliffe from 1782 and Master of Heath Grammar School. He baptized Ann Walker in 1803. Lydia was educated at Crofton Hall near Wakefield where she was a childhood friend of Elizabeth Firth, who would become Anne Brontë’s godmother. She…
You May Also Like
Elizabeth Mackay Sinclair Wemyss (née Sutherland)
-
The Last Days of Ann Walker
By Diane Halford and Leitner Daleen (updated 21st February 2023) Ann Walker died on 25th February 1854 in her childhood home, Cliffe Hill. It is often said that not much is known about Ann Walker’s life before or after Anne Lister. But once more, if we dig more deeply into the archive, we can piece together some information about the last days of Ann Walker. Trigger Warning: illness, death After living at Shibden Hall with Captain Sutherland and his family and then, after his death, with long term friend Lydia Fenton, (nèe Wilkinson) Ann had moved back to her childhood home, Cliffe Hill, after her aunt died. It is mentioned…
