 Schofield was born on 26 August 1937 and educated at Clare College, Cambridge, where he completed his undergraduate and doctoral studies.Having completed his PhD in 1963, Schofield was appointed a research assistant to the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure in 1966.He was appointed the Group's director in 1974; he stepped down in 1994, but remained involved with the Group as a senior research associate until retiring in 1998.