[2] Clerke and her younger sister, Agnes, were home-schooled by their parents, particularly by their father in the areas of classical languages and mathematics, which featured heavily in their education.

She became one of the magazine's most celebrated journalists, writing many articles on current affairs including Madagascar Past and Present (1884), The Crisis in Rhodesia (1896) and Maritime Canals (1885).

One review states, "This story is interesting, as proving that neither Polish conspiracies nor Neapolitan courtships can fill the dreary void left in a novel by the absence of men and women... [the characters] are distinguished from each other only by some external badge, such as yellow hair or a hot temper, and by the single hard black line that marks off the good characters from the bad.

"[7] In addition to contributing a number of biographical entries to the Dictionary of National Biography, works by Ellen Mary Clerke include: After ten years in Italy, the family moved to London in 1877.

[9] Ellen Mary Clerke died of pneumonia at her home in South Kensington on 2 March 1906, aged 65, following a short illness.