Gentleman Jack reveals incredible lusty journals of a 19th century lesbian

They were written during the age of the Brontes. By a woman living in the same county.

But while the sisters’ novels would achieve literary fame, the four million words in Anne Lister’s secret diaries were so explosive many had to be written in code.

And unlike the passions unveiled in the likes of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, these writings – hidden away for more than 100 years and including ­clandestine signs for sex sessions and orgasms – were of a love that dared not speak its name in 19th century Yorkshire and beyond.

Because Anne was a lesbian leading a then incredible secret life of lust for other women.

Now her inspirational story is being brought to life by Dr Foster actress Suranne Jones in Gentleman Jack, a major new eight-part BBC drama.

And today the woman who helped unearth and decode the diaries upon which the series is based tells the full story behind it.

Former teacher Helena Whitbread spent five years poring over the 24 volumes of Anne’s diaries which had been secreted away in Anne’s old home – historic country manor Shibden Hall in Halifax, West ­Yorkshire.

She knew that Anne’s nephew and a friend had already cracked most of the code – derived largely from a combination of algebra and Ancient Greek – in the 1930s.

Shocked by its content, they took the decision to hide it. It was unearthed when the Hall went into public ownership.

“When I saw the code I thought, ‘Gosh that looks difficult’.

“But it had already been cracked so I would take 50 pages home every week to decode,” says Helena, who first published The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister in the 80s.

“After my headmaster read the first draft of it he said, ‘You’ve hit a slow fuse’.

“I didn’t know what he meant at the time, but I do now. The book took on a life of its own. The historian in me thought I had to tell Anne’s story. And for the benefit of the lesbian community.

“They were so appreciative because it validated their existence. What better role model could they have than her?”

Now she’s delighted Anne’s life – which included lesbian loves from the age of 15 until her death at 49 – is being unfolded on TV by Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright.

Anne was born in 1791 and raised in Halifax – her father had been a soldier in the American War of Independence.

She met her first love, Eliza Raine, at 15 while boarding at Manor House School in York.

The two girls shared an attic bedroom called the Slope. It was around this time that Anne began her diary, in which she recorded her most private thoughts.

She met her next love at 19, Isabella ‘Tib’ Norcliffe – who was more interested in Anne than she was in her.

Isabella lost her when she introduced her to Mariana Belcombe, who would become a lifelong on-off lover. Anne ­inherited Shibden Hall from an aunt in 1836, after she had run the estate for 10 years, drawing a reasonable income from it.

She charmed her way into high society and was nicknamed Gentleman Jack because of her masculine appearance and clothing.

The TV series focuses on her attempt to marry Ann Walker (Bodyguard’s Sophie Rundle) – then an impossible idea – and her determination to transform the fate of her ancestral home in a male-dominated world.

Ann Walker became her live-in lover in 1834 – and the closest they got to marriage was a blessing of their friendship at Holy Trinity Church in York. Last year a blue plaque was placed there.

Helena says while Anne paved the way for other lesbians – and would have been a heroine to pioneering feminists the Brontes in this day and age– she herself struggled to identify with anyone.

“She had to construct her sexuality by herself,” she says. “She searched for people like her in literature.

“There was a lot of male homosexuality in the classics but not women. Then she found a satire by 1st century Roman poet Juvenal which alluded to it.

“She adopted it as evidence that two women could have sex.” Almost 50 years after her death Anne’s nephew John Lister, the last remaining member of the Lister family, decided to publish some of the plain hand extracts from the volumes his aunt had written in the local paper.

Then he and schoolfriend Arthur Burrell cracked her cryptic code and discovered her deepest secrets.

Outraged by Anne’s secret life, Burrell wanted the journals burned.

But John decided to hide the documents in Shibden Hall. And left a key to the code with them.

When they were found they ended up in Halifax library. Helena knew of Anne’s importance in the town’s history.

Intrigued, she wanted to know more about her life and started with her letters, which were available on microfilm.

Then an archivist told her about the journals and she began sifting through those.

With the freedom to write whatever she wanted without fear of someone being able to read it, Anne had been very graphic about her sex life, using symbols to spell out what she’d been up to.

Much of which made Helena blush. “It’s very racy,” laughed Helena. “I went through it and thought, ‘Can I really put that in print?’

“She used signs and symbols in the margins. A cross meant an orgasm then she had a curly Q to mark a specially satisfactory sex session.”

A consultant on Gentleman Jack, Helena says she can’t wait to see the drama.

“It’s a different era from other works that are based on Anne’s life,” she said. “This drama covers a period of her life when she is a tougher woman.

“She’s learned a lot from life. She’s become an astute businesswoman. She’s developing the estate and beating the Halifax businessmen at their game. She wants to settle down.

“I’m sure Sally has done a wonderful job as she’s a brilliant writer. She’s told me it’s based on real events but has been dramatised.

“Suranne as Anne looks formidable. She’s portraying her very dramatically. I’ll be tuning in, how could I not?”

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