![]() ![]() ![]() Though she did not use the word “lesbian” to describe herself, she wrote in her diary in 1821, “I love and only love the fairer sex and thus beloved by them in turn, my heart revolts from any love but theirs.” Lister married her neighbor and fellow landowner, Ann Walker, in 1834 at a church in York, England, an event considered to be the first recorded lesbian wedding in the history of Britain. Her womanizing reputation earned her the nickname “Gentleman Jack,” the latter part being a slur for lesbian at the time, but the name was reclaimed on Lister’s behalf, thanks to the BBC-HBO series “ Gentleman Jack,” which ran from 2019 to 2022. Educated, wealthy and masculine in appearance, she had relationships with women beginning at an early age and by all accounts was unabashedly queer and self-assured, navigating her way around polite society while excelling as a businesswoman. Visual Arts Resource / Alamy Stock PhotoĪnne Lister, who has been described as “the first modern lesbian,” was born in northern England and lived during the height of the Industrial Revolution. What is certain, though, is that queer women have always been around, even if their circumstances forced them to obscure their full selves. ![]()
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