Marianne Piercy Belcombe was the daughter of Dr William Belcombe of Petergate, York.
Marianne and Anne were introduced when Anne was staying in York with Isabella Norcliffe and her family.
Marianne was a lover of Anne Lister between 1812 and 1828. She addressed Anne Lister as Fred in her letters.
On 9th March 1816, Marianne married Charles Bourne Lawton and moved to the family home, Lawton Hall in Cheshire.
In March 1826, Marianne left her husband for a short time, and, at Charles's request, Anne brought about a reconciliation between husband and wife. Anne kept up the relationship with the couple in the hope that Lawton would die and the 2 women could live together. When Lawton suspected such a plan, he became jealous of Anne. Anne and Marianne kept up their correspondence and met from time to time at the Belcombe's family home in York, and in hotels at Scarborough [1823] and elsewhere.
Marianne remarked that Anne's increasing masculinity and manliness were becoming an embarrassment to her.
In her journals, Anne identifies Mr & Mrs Lawton as M– and C–. In letters to her, Anne referred to her as Mary.
Lawton was known to have extramarital affairs. In July 1821, Anne and Marianne developed symptoms of a venereal disease which Marianne had contracted from her husband as a consequence of his affairs.
In August 1822, Anne made out her will in Marianne's favour.
She outlived Anne by 28 years.
In the various editions of Anne's journals and letters, Marianne's name is variously spelled Marian and Mariana
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Malcolm Bull 2017 /
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Revised 14:04 on 8th May 2017 / mmb486 / 5
