An example of Anne Lister's thrilling secret code dated May 28 1817 (click to enlarge) - Image source annelister.co.uk's diary archives. See the (RAM:78) Cipher key for Anne Lister's code at The West Yorkshire Archive website.
Slick codebreaker (not heartbreaker) - download the jpg (right click and save), print & ... encrypt. In bocca di lupo!
An Anne Lister Inspired Cryptogram Puzzle
From circa 1806 to her death in 1840, Miss Anne Lister (aka Gentleman Jack) of Shibden Hall, near Halifax, England prolifically wrote diaries in which she developed a cool secret code, created from a clever mix of Greek letters, numbers and symbols in order to candidly document her secret sapphic love affairs. Women loving women / homosexuality was ... shock / horror, unthinkably "transgressive" to the society in which she lived. Sadly in 2020s, still in some countries, sapphic / LGBT love is still persecuted / illegal / punishable.
Perhaps you've read the Anne Lister book, seen the TV series or watched the film ... but have you actually seen her code / diary archives? OMG! Huge salutes to those who have deciphered Anne Lister's diaries and dedicatedly worked on them, to reveal the contents. Though no way as slick as Anne's secret code, try and encrypt this Cryptogram Puzzle (an homage to Anne) which reveals a rather passionate quote from Anne Lister's diaries.
This cryptogram is just a fun and very simple example of how hard it would have been to decipher her code, written in her diaries. A cryptogram is a puzzle with an encrypted message, where each letter in the original text is consistently substituted with another letter, number, or symbol. My cryptogram is no way as complicated as Anne Lister's secret code as her's comprised a mix of Greek letters, numbers and symbols - see the (RAM:78) Cipher for Anne Lister's code at The West Yorkshire Archive website.
To solve my cryptogram:
- Download the cryptogram and Print it.
- In order to solve the cryptogram puzzle, you must crack the code and figure out Anne Lister's hidden diary extract. In my cryptogram, the code is a simple substitution cipher where each letter in the cryptogram (called a cryptoletter) represents a different letter of the alphabet in the solution. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy compared to Anne Lister's code which was derived from a combination of of Ancient Greek letters, numbers and symbols!
- Decode the cryptogram to reveal a revealing excerpt from Anne Lister's diaries.
- Crack on!
- FYI: Quite Frankly, Miss Shankly - I would be ... utterly, pants at decoding this!
Hugest, GOLDSTARS to you, if you encrypted this!
Download this jpg link which reveals the decryption and an excerpt from Anne Lister's diaries.
Please forgive me, that this is not a html coded cryptogram puzzle - it's way beyond my css coding skills and I couldn't find a truly interactive css cryptogram to adapt. If by chance you are whizz at html/css coding - please do contact me to see if we can make this a mega cool interactive cryptogram.
Anne Lister (1791 – 1840) of Shibden Hall, Hallifax was a Yorkshire wealthy gentlewoman, independent landowner and businesswoman - a rarity of the time. Though she became known to locals as "Gentleman Jack", as she always dressed in black and in quite manly attire, she was very guarded about her romantic relationships. Anne was a prolific diarist and her diaries contain over five million words across, 7,720 pages and 27 volumes! The dairies are written largely in secret code, derived from a fascinating combination of Ancient Greek letters, numbers and symbols, that document a lifetime of clandestine, sapphic relationships. After her death in 1840, Anne's diaries were stored in the attic at Shibden Hall.
The diaries were discovered by her relative John Lister (1847 – 1933), who was the last family related inhabitant of Shibden Hall. Sometime between 1887 and 1892, John and a friend of his, schoolteacher Arthur Burrell, cleverly deciphered Anne's code which revealed her saucy sapphic relationships. Shocked schoolteacher Arthur advised John to burn the diaries in order to keep the scandalous family secret hidden and not shame the Lister family name. Huge respect, John Lister could not bring himself to burn Anne's meticulous diaries and instead he hid them behind a panel in Shibden Hall - perhaps in foresight, he was hoping they would be re-discovered in a more tolerant time?
Upon John's death in 1933, Shibden Hall and its surrounding parkland were kindly donated by the Lister family to the Halifax Corporation (which became Calderdale Council, in 1974). Years later Anne's diaries were once again rediscovered. Surprisingly, Arthur Burrell who had helped John encrypt the code but had advised him to be burn the diaries ... gave the Corporation details of the code! Bravo Arthur - in your 80s you saw the light. In the following decades, a small number of dedicated researchers studied Anne's letters and journals - see visitcalderdale.com. Moreover, Over the years with various publications and productions, Anne Lister has become highly acclaimed. In 2011, Anne's diaries received the accolade of being placed on the prestigious UNESCO Memory of the World Register in recognition of their substantial cultural significance to the UK.
Examples Of Adaptations of Anne Lister's Diaries:
- Book: The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister - Editor: Helena Whitbread | Published: 1988. I must confess: after reading it, I was less enamoured to her than her slick TV characterisation.
- Movie: The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister (2010) Dir: James Kent | Maxine Peake & Anna Madeley
- TV Series: Gentleman Jack (2019), Creator: Sally Wainwright | Suranne Jones & Sophie Rundle.
- YouTube: The Anne Lister Story by Helena Whitbread ...
- Websites: annelister.co.uk, BBC's The Real Diaries of Anne Lister, packedwithpotential.org, nationalarchives.gov.uk, West Yorkshire Archive Service, Anne Lister Encoder/Decoder (not sure if it works correctly) ...
- Cryptogram Puzzle Generation Credit to: twolimeprints.com (but I had to work hours to get rid of their watermarks!)
- Anne Lister's Diary Quote Credit to: The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister - Editor: Helena Whitbread | Published: 1988
- Anne Lister's Diary Image Credit to: annelister.co.uk
Some more fun Sapphic quizzes & games for you to test your knowledge:
- LGBT Trivia Quiz
- Lesbians Who Made History Quiz
- Lesbian Movie Quiz
- Lesbian Visibility Week Word Scramble
- Dippy Lesbian Fruit Machine - you will learn something, really quite shocking!
- UK Women's Rights Quiz
