Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (September 29, 1810-November 12, 1865) was an English novelist during the Victorian age. Her novels explored all the socio-economic layers of British society, including the very poor. She is best known for her novel Cranford (1853). Her work, like such novelists as Charles Dickens, Balzac in France, and Checkhov in Russia, pre-dated the formulation of Social Science as an area of study all by itself.