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letters, points out that this was unusual for a girl at that time. 79 She was
an extremely bright girl and in her first year studied Ancient History,
German, French, Arithmetic, Geography, English History, English
Grammar and Scripture. Her examination results, 99 per cent in German
and 55 per cent in Scripture, with the remaining subjects scoring between
70 and 90 per cent, demonstrate her ability. 80 She went on to gain a place
at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and obtained a first class degree in history. 81
Clara Collett was eight years younger than Gertrude and lived with
her family in Islington; she had two brothers and two sisters. Her father
was not rich and supported his family by teaching singing and editing a
non-profit making journal: the Free Press. 82 As a Unitarian and a radical
thinker, he was keen to see his daughters educated and find work. 83 There
was a long-standing tradition of providing an education to Unitarian
women, to enable them to teach their own children should they ever live in a
region without schools. 84 Clara and her sisters were sent to the North
London Collegiate School, a facility that Mr Collett judged to be the equal of
that to which he had sent his sons. 85 But it was as much a realisation on his
part, that he would not be able to support his daughters in the long term, as
it was a reflection of his Unitarian principles. 86 In 1865, the Cambridge
Local Examinations had been made available to girls and Clara gained
79 E. Richmond, (ed.) The Earlier Letters of Gertrude Bell (London, 1937), p. 17.
80 Richmond, (ed.) The Earlier Letters of Gertrude Bell, p. 19.
81 Richmond, (ed.) The Earlier Letters of Gertrude Bell, p. 170 and Lady Bell, (ed.) The Letters of
Gertrude Bell, vol. 1 (London, 1927), p. 1886.
82 McDonald, Clara Collet, p. 1.
83 McDonald, Clara Collet, pp. 1-3.
84 McDonald, Clara Collet, p. 9.
85 McDonald, Clara Collet, p. 10.
86 McDonald, Clara Collet, p. 12.
168