Herbert Schofield

Herbert Schofield CBE, PhD was a leading figure in technical education, a Rotarian and, from 1915 to 1950, a Principal of Loughborough College, which became Loughborough University.[1]

Herbert Schofield

CBE, PhD
Dr Herbert Schofield
by Sir Oswald Birley, 1950
© the artist's estate. Photo credit:
Loughborough University
Born
Herbert Schofield

(1882-12-08)8 December 1882
Halifax, Yorkshire
Died18 September 1963(1963-09-18) (aged 80)
Radmoor Road, Loughborough
NationalityBritish
EducationSchools in Halifax; apprenticeship in father's engineering company; Royal College of Science, London
OccupationTechnical education and training
Years active1912-1950
Known forTechnical training of over 2,000 munitions workers in WWI; urging need for libraries for technical institutes; promoting the Rotary movement.
Spouse(s)Clara (née Johns)

Biography

Herbert Schofield (8 December 1882 – 18 September 1963) was born in Halifax, the elder son of Alice (née Dawtry) and James Schofield who were married in 1880. James had his own general and textile engineering business in the town.

Education

Herbert’s education[2] began at St James’ School, Halifax. Then, at age 10 he moved to Holy Trinity Higher Grade School. In 1896 he began a seven-year apprenticeship in his father’s company, gaining experience in fitting, turning and forging, and some drawing office work. Schofield continued for eight months or so in business with his father, as a textile engineer, before moving in July 1904 to Messrs G H Gledhill & Sons Ltd., a company noted for its automatic cash till and a variety of important wartime inventions.[3] In 1905 Schofield gained a Carnegie engineering scholarship to the Royal College of Science, part of Imperial College of Science and Technology in South Kensington.[4] Three years later he was awarded a BSc in Applied Mechanical Engineering (First Class Honours), and was first in 1st Class for the diploma of “Associate of the Royal College of Science” (mechanics and physics). That same year (1908) Schofield was appointed by the Governors of Imperial College to conduct research on the thermal efficiency of high speed internal combustion engines; he stayed for 4 years. He was awarded a PhD for this research in 1923.[1][5]

Early career

In 1912, Schofield (“a distinguished physicist”[6]) became Senior Physics Master at Dover County School, and Principal of the Technical Institute at Ladywell, Dover.[7][8] Schofield turned down opportunities to continue his research at Cambridge; a research job at Rolls Royce Ltd; and a post at Repton School. Instead he moved to Loughborough.

Loughborough College

Following the Technical Instruction Act 1889,[9] and the appointment of Brockington in 1903, the way was clear for him to propose the establishment of a technical institute in Loughborough, which was eventually opened on 29 September 1909.[8] The first Principal was Samuel Charles Laws. When he moved to Wigan and later London, he left behind an efficient and growing institute.

In September 1915 Herbert Schofield moved to Loughborough as the next Principal of the Technical Institute, and also to assist the Director of Education for Leicestershire (William Allport Brockington[10]) in inspecting the county’s evening schools.

As demand for more munitions grew during World War I, Schofield set about training workers in thoroughly practical ways, avoiding the more theoretical approaches of other institutes. Using reconditioned equipment that had been discarded, the first group of 30 trainees, all women, learned how to make shells before moving to factories elsewhere.[8] By the end of 1916 the Loughborough Institute was the third largest such facility in the country; by the end of the war 2209 students had been trained and given jobs in munition factories. Schofield was awarded an MBE in 1917 for his war services.[11] After the war, he introduced a five-year full-time diploma course in mechanical engineering for former officers, based on his ‘training on production’ philosophy.[1]

In the inter-war years, Schofield oversaw big developments in the college, including:

  • setting-up a department for training handicraft teachers in 1930
  • establishing an annual summer school in 1931, offering courses mainly in physical education and arts and crafts
  • creating an aeronautical engineering department in 1935
  • the gradual extension of the college's work in physical education
  • and, throughout, acquiring property for use as student hostels

In 1921 he joined the board of directors for Atalanta Ltd. the first company in Britain to employ only women engineers, initially set up in Loughborough with the support of the Women's Engineering Society. The company was run by Annette Ashberry who was a graduate of the Loughborough college BSc engineering course and fellow board members included the leading women engineers of the dayRachel Parsons, Caroline Haslett, Lady Eleanor Shelley-Rolls, and Dora Turner.[12]

During WWII, the college aided the war effort by providing a wide range of technical courses for personnel of all three services, and by housing the RAF medical rehabilitation unit. The immediate post-war period brought a substantial increase in student numbers as former servicemen flocked into the college; and Schofield introduced a full-time course in librarianship in January 1947.[1]

Herbert Schofield retired in December 1950 at the age of sixty-eight.

An exhibition at Charnwood Museum, Loughborough was held in 2009 to celebrate the centenary of the University. It was officially opened by George Drake, the great-grandson of Dr Herbert Schofield and a first year Economics student at Loughborough,[13]

Technical affiliations and awards

(Source)[14]

  • A.R.C.S.: Associate Royal College of Science (Mechanics and Physics)
  • D.I.C.: Diploma Imperial College
  • MIMechE: Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
  • AMICE: Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers
  • MIStructE: Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers
  • FInstP: Fellow Institute of Physics
  • PhD: Doctor of Philosophy (1923)
  • Honorary Secretary of the Association of Technical Institutions (1924)[15]
  • President of the Institute of Production Engineers (1948-9)[16]
  • Chairman or President of:[15]
    • The Association of Principals of Technical Institutions,
    • The Association of Technical Institutions
    • The Institute of Linguists. President from 1938-51[17]
  • Served on several official committees:[15]
    • The National Trade Advisory Committee for Engineering and Shipbuilding
    • The Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Education
    • The National Advisory Council on Industry and Commerce
  • Past-Chairman of the Council and Honorary Treasurer of the Association for the Advancement of Education in Industry and Commerce[18]
  • Member of the Council and Chairman of the Examinations Committee of the East Midland Educational Union[18]
  • Witness before or gave evidence to:[19]
    • The Hadow Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1926
    • The Spens Report on Secondary Education with Special Reference to Grammar Schools and Technical High Schools (1938)
    • The McNair Report on Teachers and Youth Leaders (1944)

Rotary International

Judging from his speeches, Schofield was a passionate Rotarian.[20] He was the first Chairman of his local district association in 1928, President of Rotary International Britain & Ireland (RIBI) in 1931-2, and Vice-President of Rotary International 1933-4.[21] He took his international role seriously, travelling to eight Annual Conventions of Rotary International in North America, and one each in Vienna and Nice, from 1930-39.[22]

Libraries

Schofield was appointed by the Government to chair a committee investigating the state of libraries in technical institutions. He presented a meeting of a local branch of the Library Association in 1939 with many findings, including the fact that 16 technical colleges had no library, and 44 had books but no room to store them. His forthcoming report would stress the need for grants for book purchase.[23]

Legacy

The Schofield Society, founded by alumni and friends in 2010, recognises a group of leading donors to Loughborough University and the difference they are making. The society's aim is to continue Schofield’s work “by providing ongoing support for student welfare and continuing to pursue Herbert’s ambition for Loughborough to have national & global impact”.[24]

Family

Herbert Schofield met Clara Johns, from London, at the village of Iffley. They were married on 12 February 1918 at St Michael, Headingley, Leeds.[25] Their home was named “Iffley”, first in Park Road then in Ashby Road, Loughborough. They had a daughter, Patricia Margaret Dawtry, born on 6 June 1922, and adopted a son, Richard, from an orphanage a few years later.[8] Clara (known as Ray) died from a progressive disease, at her home in Loughborough on 3 March 1928, aged 28.

On 30 September 1950, Patricia married Captain Donald James Drake at All Saints Church, Loughborough.[26] Her husband was formerly with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and was awarded a Military Cross during the war; at the time of his marriage he was Labour Officer at Holwell Works, Asfordby Hill.[27] The couple lived in nearby Melton Mowbray, and had three sons there. Donald died on 20 August 1968, at their then home at Holy Well Cottage, Snells Nook Lane, Loughborough; he was 46. Patricia died in Loughborough the following year; she was 47.

Dr Herbert Schofield was a devout Christian who kept his college in close contact with the Church of England, and a lay canon of Leicester Cathedral.[15] Described as being "not physically large" but with "a masterful presence and ... enormous energy", Schofield drove himself and his staff very hard.[1] He was awarded the CBE in 1946.[28]

Schofield died in a nursing home at Radmoor Road, Loughborough, on 18 September 1963, leaving his estate to Patricia Drake. His will also shows that he left £250 and "such scientific and engineering books in my library as he may select", to his adopted son, whose full name was Michael Richard Antony Schofield. Michael, born in 1918, married Hilary J Milner in Loughborough in 1944, having served briefly as a Flying Officer in the RAF.[29] The had two children and emigrated to the USA. Michael died in Orlando, FLA in 1994.

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References
  1. "Schofield, Herbert". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51696. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. "UK, Civil Engineer Records, 1820-1930". Ancestry. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  3. "Cash register by G.H. Gledhill & Sons Ltd". Science Museum Group. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  4. "UK, Mechanical Engineer Records, 1847-1938". Ancestry. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  5. "Doctor of Philosophy. Degree for Principal of Loughborough College". Nottingham Journal. Nottingham. 23 June 1923.
  6. Ruffell, BA, K H. "The Dover County School 1905-1931". Pharos Magazine. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  7. Sencicle, Lorraine (31 May 2014). "Dover's Art and Technical Schools – Colleges". The Dover Historian. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  8. Harvey, MA, FLA, Joan M (1976). Herbert Schofield and the Loughborough College. Derby: J M Harvey, 42 Hall gate, Diseworth. ISBN 095052980X.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. Gillard, Derek (25 March 2013). "Technical Instruction Act 1889". Education in England. Derek Gillard. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  10. "Brockington, Sir William Allport". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63804. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  11. "Appointments to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire". Supplement to the London Gazette. London. 30250: 8798. 24 August 1917.
  12. Heald, Henrietta,. Magnificent women and their revolutionary machines. London. ISBN 978-1-78352-660-4. OCLC 1080083743.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. "Schofield's great-grandson officially opens Centenary exhibition". Loughborough University: News and events. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  14. Except where noted, list was provided by Alexandra Fisher, Assistant Archivist and Records Manager, College Archives and Corporate Records Unit, Imperial College London, March 2020
  15. "Obituary: Dr H Schofield". The Times. London. 19 September 1963. p. 17.
  16. "Past Presidents of the IMfgE". IET: The Institution of Engineering and Technology. IET. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  17. Debbie Butler, Communications and Marketing Manager, CIOL (Chartered Institute of Linguists). March 2020
  18. "1939 Who's Who In Engineering: Name S". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Grace's Guide Ltd. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  19. Gillard, Derek. "Various". Education in England. Derek Gillard. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  20. See for example ""A Square Deal" How Rotary Helps to Provide it". Hampshire Telegraph and Post. 22 February 1929. p. 18.
  21. "Loughborough & Rotary". Rotary Club of Loughborough Beacon. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  22. See for example: Proceedings: Twenty-Third Annual Convention of Rotary International. Seattle, Washington, USA. June 20-24, 1932. Chicago, Zurich & London: Toary International. 1932.
  23. "Technical Students in Need of Libraries". Nottingham Journal. Nottingham. 27 January 1939.
  24. "About the Schofield Society: an enduring Legacy". Giving to Loughborough. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  25. "Marriage of Mr H Schofield". Loughborough Echo. Loughborough. 15 February 1918.
  26. "College Head's Daughter Weds". Leicester Mercury. Leicester. 30 September 1950. p. 7.
  27. "Holwell Ironworks Iron Smelt Mill (United Kingdom)". AditNow. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  28. Not in 1947, as stated in most sources. See "Appointments to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire". Supplement to the London Gazette. London. 37598: 2788. 4 June 1946.
  29. "Air Ministry, 19th September, 1941" (PDF). The London Gazette (5432). 19 September 1941. Retrieved 21 April 2020.


  1. Herbert Schofield and the University. Loughborough Public Library: PHIR. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
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