Alice Schofield

Alice Schofield in 1907 by the Women's Freedom League

Born| 3 May 1881

Cleveland, England

Died| 19 June 1975

Middlesbrough, England

Nationality| British
Other names| Alice Schofield Coates
Occupation(s)| Teacher, activist and politician
Known for| Women's rights

Alice Schofield or Alice Schofield Coates (3 May 1881 – 19 June 1975)[1] was a British suffragette and politician. She campaigned for women to have the vote and later campaigned for the legislation to give women rights to equal pay.

## Life[edit]

Schofield was born in Cleveland, but her family was poor and she was brought up by an uncle and aunt in Manchester.[2] She was not religious and she was a vegetarian. She trained as a teacher with Teresa Billington who was also not religious.[2] Schofield met Emmeline Pankhurst at a disciplinary hearing after Schofield refused to teach about religion.[2] Other accounts say that she met Pankhurst at a speech.[3] However Pankhurst was a member of the Manchester Education committee and she arranged for Schofield to start work at a Jewish school where religious instruction was not legally required.[2]

She and Teresa Billington joined the Independent Labour Party and both went to join Pankhurst's Women's Social and Political Union. She met Eva Gore-Booth and Esther Roper[2] and she was enthusiastic about women's suffrage but not about the WSPU. Like many members she was alarmed by the autocratic manner of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst.[2]

In 1907 the breakaway group of the Women's Freedom League was formed with more of a democratic approach. The new league included Charlotte Despard, Teresa Billington and Schofield. Schofield was employed as a full time official.[2] The league was also militant, but it objected to the extreme measures encouraged by the Pankhursts WSPU which included arson. In 1909 she was based in Middlesbrough where a brother of another WFL member came to her rescue. He was Charles Coates and they married in February 1910. Coates had a good income from importing coal and they employed servants who taught and looked after their three children. Schofield was thus able to trave on speaking tours to South Shields[4] or into Scotland on WFL business and she made frequent trips to London to attend WGL meetings where she was on the executive committee.[5] She used the name Alice Schofield Coates.[3] Coates and her husband operated a vegetarian restaurant on Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough.[1]

In 1919 Schofield stood as the first woman councillor in Middlesbrough.[3] In 1924 her husband's business ceased to be profitable. Schofield continued to support the Labour Party and she became a Justice of the Peace.[5]

At the end of her career she campaigned for women to have the right to equal pay.[3] The legislation was passed in 1970. Schofield died in 1975.

Brian Harrison recorded an oral history interview with Schofield-Coates, in April 1975, as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews.[6] Schofield-Coates talks about meeting Teresa Billington Greig and joining the Women's Freedom League. The collection also contains an interview with her sister-in-law, Alice Schofield, in which she talks about Alice and Charles and their financial experiences.

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b Martin, David E. Saville, John; Bellamy, Joyce M. (1993). Dictionary of Labour Biography, Volume IX. Palgrave. pp. 39-42. ISBN 978-1-349-07847-9
2. ^ a b c d e f g "Alice Schofield". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
3. ^ a b c d "Making A Mark - Alice Schofield Coates (1882 – 1975)". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
4. ^ "Votes for Women - Women's Freedom League - Public Meeting". The Shields Gazette. 25 April 1910. p. 1\. Vol LXII no. 17298.
5. ^ a b Elizabeth Crawford (2 September 2003). The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928. Routledge. pp. 387–. ISBN 1-135-43401-8.
6. ^ London School of Economics and Political Science. "The Suffrage Interviews". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 11 December 2023.