Who was Clara Collet?

1. Perhaps the most important aspect of Collet's life for posterity is the vast collection of statistical and sometimes anecdotal descriptions of the late Victorian and Edwardian world in which she lived, collected as part of her work for Charles Booth and later the Civil Service. A full bibliography of her work is available in this book providing any researcher into the period with a vast wealth of original and fascinating data
2. She worked for Charles Booth helping in his great investigative work on the conditions prevailing in late nineteenth century London. To this end she took up residency in the East End during the autumn of 1888 possibly brushing shoulders with Jack the Ripper himself.
3. Collet was probably George Gissing's closest friend during the last ten years of his life.
4. She worked for over thirty years in the Civil Service advising politicians on issues affecting women and their work.

This website contains the following information on the life of Clara Collet:

• Information about Collet's relationship with Karl Marx and his daughter Eleanor
• Details about Collet's time spent working for Charles Booth collecting statistics in the East End of London for his work "Life and Labour"
• A discussion on the relationship between Clara Collet and the author George Gissing
• Details of Clara Collet's work with Churchill during his time spent as President of the Board of Trade
• Clara Collet's work promoting the cause of women and work
• Information about Collet working in the East End at the time of Jack the Ripper
• A brief Chronology of her life and times