#ALentry: 27 aug 1834

[iredreamer]

So I have a question.. Maybe questionS. I often see diary entries where Anne Lister describes going to her own bed to sleep (this is obvs after she got married and Ann moved in) and I was wondering why. Was it really just bc of Ann's snoring? And also I'm assuming she goes to her old bedroom to sleep, since they had that new one made for the two of them. But I might be wrong. Help a confused lesbian out :D

Hello! What I can say to try and clear things up a little bit is this:

1. First thing you have to check when reading those entries is if they were travelling or not. Sometimes, when travelling, they weren’t able to book 1 room with a double bed and so they slept in different rooms (or just in separate beds), that’s why you can read that Anne goes to her own room/bed (usually after they had sex) or that AW goes to Anne (i.e. “she came to me”). Some examples of this can be found in June-August 1834 when Anne & Ann travelled, visiting France and Switzerland. When they sleep together again Anne writes:

Wednesday 27, August 1834 > Long good kiss last night slept together first time since Paris” [SH:7/ML/E/16/0080]

They arrived at Rochester the night before:

Tuesday 26, August 1834 > At Rochester at 9.35 – tea & [shrimps] & came up to bed at 11.05 – fine day till about 10 p.m. – then a little rain – slept with her & lay playing quietly at first. [SH:7/ML/E/16/0079]

2. Now, about them not sleeping together at Shibden; we can find an answer to this whole thing In Catherine A. Euler’s “Moving Between Worlds: Gender, Class, Politics, Sexuality and Women's Networks in the Diaries of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire, 1830-1840”:

Once they were “marred” (...) They almost always slept together in the same bed, except for one long period when Walker's snoring disturbed her so much Lister slept in the kitchen chamber.

Euler’s source for this statement is April 1837: 

Monday 10, April 1837 > Could not sleep for A-’s snoring all night – determined to sleep in the kitchen chamber. [SH:7/ML/E/20/0044]

Tuesday 11, April 1837 > Slept last night in the kitchen chamber and slept very well – 1st time of sleeping alone since A- [Ann] has been here. – Poor dear A-! Very lonely to be without her.

[how cute is she? she felt lonely without Ann by her side! I wanna cry, help me]

An entry from a couple of days later explains pretty well how things were going:

Friday 14, April 1837 > Meant to have slept with her last night. Had a goodish kiss – she inclined – & was dropping asleep when she snored, so I could not sleep. Got up & went to my own bed at twelve & a half & was just comfortable when I thought I heard her at my door. Jumped up & asked who was there – no answer – stood with my father’s pistols in my hand till I was cold, then thought A- would be frightened if she awoke & found me gone so crept back to her but no sleep. She snored so at three therefore went back to the kitchen chamber & slept without awaking till eight. [SH:7/ML/E/20/0046]

“Meant to have slept with her last night” – Sleeping alone in the kitchen chamber was not Anne’s first choice. Anne wanted to sleep with Ann but, after they had sex, she decides to go to her own bed because Ann “snored” and she “could not sleep”. At some point in the night AL goes back to AW to sleep with her but then AW “snored” so AL “went back to the kitchen chamber” – clearly the “kitchen chamber” was “Anne’s bedroom” or at least the place where she usually went to sleep when she wasn’t sleeping with AW. A kitchen chamber [1] was basically a sort of back room / secondary bedchamber, I’m pretty sure that’s where Anne goes to sleep when she says “went to my own bed” or something along those lines.

To sum it up: when Anne decided to not sleep with Ann it was because Ann snored too much.

This is all I know! I hope I answered you! Have a good day : )

[1] It seems to have been a spare room. Kitchen chambers were just bedrooms and bedrooms were always on the second (or third) floor (when there was one). It was called a “kitchen chamber” a bedroom that lined up with (or was connected to) the kitchen on the first floor. [Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture; The gentleman's magazine, Volume 33]