Ernest Norman SCHOFIELD (1877–1916)
Ernest Norman Schofield was born in Wakefield in 1877, the son of John Alfred Schofield (born in Wakefield in 1848/9, registered first quarter of 1849) and Mary Ann Land (born in Wakefield in 1855, registered last quarter).
His parents, who were Methodists, were married in Wakefield in the second quarter of 1879 (about eighteen months after Ernest’s birth, and when their second child was on the way). They had four children altogether:
- Ernest Norman Schofield (born in Wakefield in 1877, registered fourth quarter)
- Jane Elizabeth Schofield (born in Wakefield in 1879, registered fourth quarter)
- Thomas Alfred Schofield (born in Wakefield in 1881, registered second quarter)
- Eliza Letitia Schofield (born in Clerkenwell in 1883, registered third quarter).
At the time of the 1881 census Ernest’s parents were living at Oxford Street, Sandal Magna, Wakefield with their first two children: Ernest (3) and Jane (1). His father John (30) was an unemployed cabinet maker.
The family evidently came down south soon after the census, perhaps looking for work, as two years later their youngest child was born in Clerkenwell in London.
They soon returned to the Wakefield area, however, and Ernest’s father John died there at the age of 41 in the fourth quarter of 1889. At the time of the 1891 census Ernest’s widowed mother Mary was living with her four children in Scarborough Street, Alvethorpe. She made ends meet by working as a charwoman and having a young female mill-hand as a lodger. Ernest, although only 13, was already at work as an assistant at a printing works, and Jane (11), Thomas (10), and Eliza (7) were still at school.
By the time of the 1901 census Ernest’s widowed mother still lived with her children in Wakefield, but at a different address (1 Hanover Street). She no longer worked, probably because all four of her children were now in employment: Ernest (23) was a printer’s compositor, Jane (21) was a milliner, Thomas (20) was a butcher’s shop assistant, and Eliza (17) was a wool winder.
Shortly after the census Ernest’s mother moved to the Oxford area, and from 1903 Ernest worked in the Bible Composing Room of Oxford University Press, where (according to his obituary) he was known as “Sunny Jim” because of his disposition. He was a member of the Clarendon Press Musical Society and the Y.M. Glee Club, and of the Wesleyan Choir in Headington.
Oxford University Press printer compositors just before the First World War.
Ernest Schofield is likely to be in this group
The 1911 census shows Mrs Mary Schofield living in Bateman Street (then called East Street) in All Saints’ parish. Of her four children, only Ernest himself (33), who was still unmarried and working as a printer compositor, was still living with her. Also with her on census night (probably just visiting) was her grandson Stanley Schofield (5), son of Ernest’s brother Thomas, who was then still up in Wakefield. Her daughter Eliza had got married in 1907, and her other daughter Jane was living with her aunt, Miss Letitia Schofield (64) and assisting her in her grocery business at 72 Dewsbury Road, Wakefield.
Ernest Schofield volunteered to serve in the First World War, enlisting in the 4th Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 5034) on 4 June 1915. He trained in England in the 3rd Reserve Battalion, and was drafted to France as a Private in the 1st/4th Battalion on 22 May 1916.
He died from gastroenteritis (or pneumonia) in hospital in Rouen at the age of 39 on 20 December 1916. He was buried at the St Sever Cemetery extension in Rouen (O. III. J. 9), and is listed on the Roll of Honour of All Saints’ Church, Highfield.
Left: Photograph of Ernest Schofield’s grave in the St Sever Cemetery extension in Rouen, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:
[Emblem of the OBLI]
5034 PRIVATE
E. SCHOFIELD
OXFORD & BUCKS. LIGHT INF.
20TH DECEMBER 1916. AGE 39
†
Administration (with Will) was granted in Oxford to his widowed mother, Mary Ann Schofield, on 12 July 1917. He left £115 8s. 11d.
Postscript
Ernest’s mother
Mrs Mary Ann Schofield lived at Ashwood Villas, Banks Avenue, Pontefract after the war. She died in Pontefract at the age of 65 in the first quarter of 1919.
Ernest’s brother (shown left in 1923)
Thomas Schofield (born 1881) originally remained in Wakefield when his mother moved to Headington. He married Rowena Netherwood in Wakefield in the fourth quarter of 1904, and they had two children born there: Stanley Schofield (born 1905) and Stella Schofield (born 1909). At the time of the 1911 census was a butcher, living at 74 Dewsbury Road.
In 1915 he too moved his family down to Headington, where he spent the rest of his life running a much-loved shop at 24 New High Street that was known as Scho’s and “sold everything”. He continued to run his shop at 24 New High Street until the 1950s, when he retired to Old Road.
His son Stanley Schofield married Maud Phyllis Pearson of Barton in the second quarter of 1930, and they emigrated to Auckland in the 1950s.
See also
- CWGC: E. Schofield
- Oxford Chronicle of 5 January 1917: Obituary of Ernest Schofield
- War Record of the Oxford University Press (1923), entry for SCHOFIELD, E. N.
- Ernest Schofield’s brother’s shop at 24 New High Street
- Wikipedia: Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry