An Edinburgh walking tour produced during lockdown explores the city’s recently uncovered connections with Anne Lister, widely known as Gentleman Jack, following the popular BBC drama series.
Tour guide Stef Lauer's project provides a unique perspective of the Scottish capital, following in Lister’s footsteps through her diary entries.
To get the initial idea off the ground she joined up with Somewhere EDI, a quarterly LGBT+ magazine, together with successfully securing a grant from The National Lottery.
The award-winning BBC series from 2019 – which will return for a second series in late 2022 – starred Suranne Jones as Gentleman Jack, and was created and directed by Sally Wainwright, who introduced us to a fascinating world of coded diaries covering the period between 1817 and the 1820s by the landowner, industrialist, prolific writer and now, lesbian icon, Lister.
Lauer, 41, said the project has been a real ‘labour of love’ combining her passion of Anne Lister with her skill as a tour guide.
“Way before Gentleman Jack, I always had a great interest in her life and the diaries,” Lauer explained.
“But the part of her life where she visited Scotland in 1828 for the Grand Tour was only recently transcribed in 2020 for everyone to read in plain English.
“Her handwriting is almost impossible to read, so it takes a long time to transcribe! And she wrote about one sixth of her diaries in a secret code.
“So, her time in Scotland was only unearthed relatively recently. For me it was very much about marrying my passion for all things Anne Lister and my passion for Scotland.
“I’m working as a walking guide myself as well, so it was about combining those two things, it was very much a labour of love.
“As a freelancer, I lost a lot of work when Covid-19 first came so it was also a real lockdown project.
“I started the tours towards the end of 2020, and it’s been really nice to see people again face-to-face. We’re out in the open exploring history but also Edinburgh in the open air.
“It has been just great to see people and talk about something other than the pandemic – I’ve had so many local people as well who have lived here all their lives and didn’t know about this.”
Lister’s diaries and life story are fundamental to the LGBT+ history in this country.
And as Lauer explains, it is particularly important for those who have felt marginalised by society in the past.
She said: “Usually history is written by white, male, straight people, so to have a story like Anne’s 200 years after she lived is pretty amazing.
“It is very much the hidden part of lesbian history that has never been revealed before. A lot of these diaries are still being transcribed as we speak, so it’s new stuff.
“It is a vivid description of such a unique lesbian life, and the community take a lot of courage and strength from that.
“We’ve always been around, and this wasn’t hiding away in the archives – it has been put into the spotlight.
“The courage she [Lister] had to be herself is really important and I think we can all take a lot from that ourselves.”
Lauer is also grateful to The National Lottery for the £10,000 grant awarded through the organisations’ Heritage programme.
She added: “I don’t think this would be possible without The National Lottery’s support and help.
“£10,000 for someone like me that was trying to survive a pandemic financially, and then wanted to set-up something new that is for the benefit of a marginalised community made a massive difference.
“We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the application, so when we got the go ahead it was a life-changing feeling.
“Everything before that felt quite negative, so to find that The National Lottery believed in me again made a huge difference.
“The funding meant I could continue doing what I love doing, so I’m forever grateful.”
As the tour continues to go from strength to strength and help people explore the LGBT+ history and culture of Edinburgh, Somewhere EDI and Lauer are also appreciative of further focus provided by LGBT+ History Month.
She added: “Whilst I think every month of the year should be LGBT+ History Month to be honest, it is really nice to get it distilled into one month which brings more visibility.
“Organisations like The National Lottery have put it more in the spotlight and we have a really diverse range of stories.
“We’re busy telling stories all years around, but it is nice to get the spotlight in February."
More than £30 million goes to good causes from The National Lottery across the country every week, making vital projects like these possible. To find out more about how The National Lottery supports good causes throughout the UK, visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
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