The year is 1881.

Inside a desolate Coventry workhouse, a baby is born. A place where disease is rife, labour is gruelling, and money is an unfathomable fantasy. But from this darkness, sparked a hope in the form of Alice Arnold, the first female mayor that Coventry would ever see. From a child born into poverty, to a feminist fighting for peace, somehow Alice Arnold’s name is all but forgotten within the hive of her own community.

In 1882, Arnold and her family were discharged from the workhouse, but this certainly did not mean that an easier path awaited them on the outside, as Alice was forced to work in a factory from the age of 11. Whilst the horror that Arnold endured throughout her childhood would have quelled any sparks of hope in many, it only fuelled her desire to revive her impoverished community. And as a result, as soon as she was of age, she joined the Worker’s Union, and eventually through pure self-belief left work and became a full-time Union organiser. Alice envisaged a future where she could not only be more but do more for Coventry. Her political trajectory unfolded in 1919 as she was elected as one of the first female councillors in Coventry, going on to become the first female mayor in the city in 1937 – the pinnacle of her career. Society in the 1930s was hyper-fixated on status, therefore Alice’s feat in overcoming the shackles of poverty is not to be underestimated. Today we may naively believe that we have abolished this system; that anyone born into the working class is free to move into a position of responsibility. But with 22% of modern-day UK living below the poverty line, we cannot turn our backs on the lack of progress made. So let us ensure that her plight was not for history to repeat itself.

However, merely escaping a life of poverty should not be all that Alice is remembered for. From an early age she was a pioneer of women’s rights despite the impact she knew it could have on her political ambitions. She became the Secretary of Coventry Social Democratic Foundation’s women’s circle after joining the SDF in 1909 to promote the value of a female voice in politics. Amidst her growing influence, Alice used her promotion to shop steward in 1914 to secure the pay and rights of female workers surrounding her. Supporting other women was an ever-present virtue for Arnold, who, at her inauguration ceremony as mayor in 1937, declared it was time for women to stand side by side with men to make a difference in the world. Powerful words considering the backdrop of the 30s. A time where married women could be forced to resign, single women were dubbed ‘spinsters’, and all women were undervalued. Historian Kenneth Richardson wrote about Alice Arnold in 1972, describing her as ‘opinionated’, ‘difficult to handle’, and as having ‘no sense of dress’. Even in the 1970s, our well-educated historians chose to only focus on the fashion choices of female political leaders, so imagine the misogyny faced by Arnold in her day.

Peace. As relevant today as it was in the 1930s. It forms the foundations that Coventry lives by, through its convoluted past. But Coventry fought for peace long before the destructive impact of the Second World War, with Alice Arnold’s 1938 ‘Peace for Plenty’ campaign. In her efforts to abolish poverty in Coventry, she realised that war would bring about detrimental repercussions for the poorest in society. To save her city, war had to be avoided. At all costs. A third of Coventry’s population signed Alice’s petition conveying the unity of the city in their collective goal - peace. Alice Arnold led 100 of her supporters to London with the petition, consisting of people from all walks of life. Support swelled and Alice led a crowd a quarter of a mile long through the streets of London. As a result, 89 British councils and 23 countries went on to develop their own peace campaigns – echoes of this need for international peace resonate through protests still today. Perhaps the fact that peace was not brokered is the reason Alice is overlooked in history – but looking back, context is everything. Was international peace attained from a single protest? No. But did it spark a sense of togetherness in a city that would go on to be decimated through war? Echoes of which we see through peace protests across the world today.

The absence of Alice Arnold in Coventry's story up to this point cannot be undone. But as historians, all we can do is learn from the mistakes of the past, not erase them. Alice reminded us in 1945 that Coventry is “a city which has owed so much to women”. So, let’s ensure that we don’t forget the role that women like Alice Arnold have played in Coventry’s legacy. She was a leader who fought for every member of society. Who fought for equality, fought for Coventry, and most importantly, fought for peace.