Clementina Black (1853–1922)

Clementina Black was born in Brighton, England, the sister of mathematician Arthur Black and translator Constance Black Garnett. Educated at home, she was a talented linguist, becoming fluent in French and German, which she taught to her younger sisters. She later lived in London with her sisters and remained unmarried. Clementina was a friend of Eleanor Marx, and a member of the Fabian Society. She worked in the East End of London to improve the conditions of working women, and establish a minimum wage. She helped found the Women’s Trade Union Association (WTUA). She co-founded a Women’s Labour Bureau with Frances Hicks. She later disbanded the WTUA, reorganized it into the Women’s Industrial Council in 1894, and edited the organization’s journal, The Women’s Industrial News. Her published works included Sweated Industry and the Minimum Wage (1907) and Married Women’s Work (1915), as well as novels such as A Sussex Idyll (1877) and An Agitator (1894). She also wrote several dramatic works for children.