William K. Corlett, one of the five founders of the Manx Society at Cleveland, and of the family whose letters are the best record of the emigration.

The society was formed in 1851 by James Christian, John Corlett, William K. Corlett, William Cubbon and William Brew, to assist and take care of the poor immigrant from the Isle of Man who came with an empty pocket or in feeble health, and it holds an honoured place among the pioneer bodies of its kind.

The Corlett correspondence is the fullest of its kind to survive. Of the private letters written home by the Manx emigrants, those of a William Corlett are reckoned the most complete and the most informative, and they stand beside the diaries of Thomas Kelly of Doolough and Daniel Caley of Jurby as the principal first-hand sources for the settlement.

The family kept its name in Cleveland into the twentieth century. Dr William T. Corlett, who lived from 1854 to 1948 and was a grandson of the original immigrant, won an international reputation as a specialist in diseases of the skin.