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Ann Walker’s Return to Shibden
By Steve Crabtree, March 2020 Following the death of Anne Lister on 22nd September, 1840, Ann Walker had the arduous and unenviable job of returning to England, bereft of her wife’s confidence, experience, and support. She also had a choice to make – was Anne Lister of Shibden Hall to be buried in a foreign land, or was her body to be repatriated to England, to join her kindred in the Lister vault at Halifax Minster? The decision is well known, and was taken almost immediately after Anne’s passing. An article in the Halifax Guardian carrying news of Anne Lister’s death also states that Miss Walker would return Anne Lister’s remains…
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August 1843: Atkinson vs Walker
By Steve Crabtree, March 2020 Perhaps one of the most significant events in the build up to Ann Walker’s removal from Shibden is one of the least explored. At some point in the 1840’s, Ann Walker allegedly found herself indebted to a Jane Atkinson, for £77.3.00. Whatever the reason for this debt remains, at this point, unknown. It could be that Atkinson had provided some goods or services for Walker, or a rent dispute. The fact that Ann refuses to pay Jane what would have been a fairly inconsiderable sum to someone as wealthy as Walker suggests that Ann is making her stand on principle, rather than under any financial…
