Clara E. (Clara Elizabeth) Collet

Born in 1860, Clara Elizabeth Collet was among the early generation of women to study economics at university level in Britain. She went on to build a remarkable career as an economist, statistician, and investigator of working-class life, with a lasting interest in how women earned a living and how poverty shaped everyday experience.

Collet became known for her work on women’s employment and labor conditions. She worked with Charles Booth’s social investigations and later served on the Royal Commission on Labour before moving into the Board of Trade, where she spent many years as a civil servant. In roles that were unusual for women of her time, she helped gather and interpret the evidence behind public debate about wages, employment, and social policy.

She died in 1948, but her reputation has endured because she combined careful statistical work with a strong concern for real people’s lives. For listeners interested in social history, economics, or the history of women in public life, Collet stands out as a thoughtful and determined figure who helped make women’s work visible.