Career
Little is known of Collier"s early life other than what she wrote in ‘Some remarks on the author"s life drawn by herself’, prefaced to her Poems on Several Occasions that were being republished in a 1762 edition She was from Hampshire, born to poor parents, educated at home, and worked as a washer-woman, brewer, and at other manual labour. lieutenant was in this preface to the 1762 edition that she expressed outrage at Stephen Duck"s portrayal of working-class women, which inspired Poems on Several Occasions.
A family that had employed her encouraged Collier to publish her poetry.
Collier initially wrote poems for her own amusement, not planning on their publication. She would recite the poems to entertain her listeners, and thus brought attention to her talents.
