Alice Honora Enfield (4 January 1882 – 14 August 1935) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

activist.

Life and career

Born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, she was the sister of Elinor Enfield. Alice studied at

St Leonards School St Leonards School is an independent boarding and day school for pupils aged 4–19 in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Founded in 1877 as St Andrews School for Girls Company, it adopted the St Leonards name upon moving to its current premises, the s ...

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, and then at Somerville College, Oxford University. She became a secondary school teacher, also undertaking research in history in her spare time.H. F. Bing, "Enfield, Alice Honora", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.I, pp.112-113 In 1913, Enfield began working for the

National Federation of Women Workers The National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland active in the first part of the 20th century. Instrumental in winning women workers the right to a minimum wage for the first ti ...

, focusing on campaigning for better benefits for women under the National Health Insurance scheme. Four years later, she instead took employment with the

Women's Co-operative Guild The Co-operative Women's Guild was an auxiliary organisation of the co-operative movement in the United Kingdom which promoted women in co-operative structures and provided social and other services to its members. History The guild was founded ...

, as private secretary to Margaret Llewelyn Davies. Davies retired as secretary of the organisation in 1922, and Enfield replaced her. Enfield was a founder of the International Women's Co-operative Guild in 1921, and became its first secretary, the following year. The role gradually expanded, and in 1927 she resigned her other posts to work full-time for the international organisation. In her spare time, Enfield was involved in the

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...

, serving on the

National Peace Council The National Peace Council (NPC), founded in 1908 and disbanded in 2000, acted as the co-ordinating body for almost 200 groups across Britain, with a membership ranging from small village peace groups to national trade unions and local authorities. ...

, and during 1932 on the Disarmament Committee of the International Women's Organisations. She died in 1935, while visiting Paris in an attempt to organise a women's co-operative guild there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enfield, Honora 1882 births 1935 deaths Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Co-operative Women's Guild People educated at St Leonards School People from Nottingham