Clara Maria Clarkson was a Wakefield suffragist, diarist and campaigner for women’s rights. A member of the congregation at Wakefield Unitarian Chapel, she recorded an extraordinary picture of nineteenth-century life in a series of personal journals.
Along with her friends, Clara defied many of the social conventions of their time, living openly as part of a nurturing queer community centred around Wakefield Unitarian Chapel.
Clara Clarkson’s Journals and Merrie Wakefield
In total, Clara kept around 40 journals documenting her life, relationships and experiences in Victorian Wakefield. After her death, members of Wakefield’s ‘great and good’, fearing scandal if their contents became public, petitioned to have the journals destroyed.
Only four survived.
More than a century after her death, Clara’s voice reached people again. Ann Jacques, a distant relative of Clara, decoded the surviving journals and rewrote them in Merrie Wakefield.
Clara Clarkson’s Wakefield Blue Plaque
Clara Clarkson became number 13 in our campaign for Blue Plaque Parity in Wakefield.
We unveiled her blue plaque at an end-of-project celebration at Westgate Chapel in 2019. It commemorates her life and helps keep her contribution to Wakefield’s history alive.
Clara Clarkson and the 1866 Women’s Suffrage Petition
Clara’s story was far from over. She was one of the city’s early advocates for women’s right to vote. And, alongside her cousin Ann Clarkson, one of only ten Wakefield women to sign the historic 1866 Women’s Suffrage Petition.
Wakefield Library later featured her story via the Unfinished Business exhibition, which toured from London. The series explored the motivations and characters of some of Wakefield’s Forgotten Women. It formed part of our wider campaign for Blue Plaque Parity.
Bringing Clara Clarkson’s Story to Life
Clara’s remarkable life also inspired Clara, an award-winning drama exploring her story and the world recorded in her journals.
Clara Clarkson’s Merrie Wakefield
Thanks to the extensive research of lead researcher Helga Fox, Clara’s journals have continued to reveal new insights into nineteenth-century Wakefield.
Clara Clarkson’s Merrie Wakefield presents Ann Jacques’ original text alongside new research uncovered by Helga. It explores court cases and scandal, local events, the cholera epidemic and other aspects of the world in which Clara lived.
Find out more about Clara Clarkson
Download our free guide to Clara Clarkson, her life and her contribution to Wakefield’s history.