Portrait

Born: 20 May 1803Lightcliffe, United Kingdom
Died: 25 February 1854Lightcliffe, United Kingdom · aged 50

LandownerUnited Kingdom

Ann Walker

In 1834 she and Anne Lister took communion together in a York church and considered themselves married – Britain’s first known lesbian wedding.

Ann Walker was born in Lightcliffe near Halifax in Yorkshire into a wealthy family. Her parents died when she was 20, and after the early death of her brother she and her sister inherited the Crow Nest estate, which made her one of the richest heiresses in the area. She was deeply religious, ran her own Sunday school and took great care of her servants and tenants.

In 1832 her neighbour Anne Lister of Shibden Hall began to court her. Walker hesitated for a long time: she suffered from anxiety and depression and struggled to accept her feelings, also because of her faith. Lister recorded in her diary how Walker could not decide between her and a male suitor and felt “repugnance to forming any connection with the other sex”.

In February 1834 the two women exchanged vows and rings. On Easter Sunday, 30 March 1834, they took communion together at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, in York and from then on considered themselves married. The church today bears a rainbow plaque commemorating this as Britain’s first known lesbian wedding. Walker moved to Shibden Hall, and the two travelled widely together. In 1840 Lister died on a journey in Georgia in the Caucasus; Walker had her body brought back to England, a journey of six months.

After Lister’s death Walker’s mental health deteriorated, and in 1843 she was declared of “unsound mind”. She died in Lightcliffe in 1854, aged 50. No portrait of her is known. The television series “Gentleman Jack” told her story to a wide audience.

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