Maud Slater (1868-1963)
The daughter of a Plymouth headmaster, Maud Slater was a deeply religious and well-educated woman, who was a passionate believer in the importance of women’s suffrage as a way of advancing causes she considered of importance, including temperance and the better education and training of women in practical as well as academic skills. In 1912, she set up a commercial school for Plymouth’s young women, the Clarence School of Commerce, at 107 Tavistock Road, to teach book keeping, language skills, typewriting and secretarial skills. The Clarence School flourished and demand increased during the war, when she took Rev Hetty Baker into partnership with her. The School moved to Headland Park, and finally, in 1921, to Bedford Park Villas, when it became the Bedford Park School of Commerce. The pair gave up running the commercial school in 1925, and retired to live in Plympton.