Priscilla (Bell) Wakefield (1751 - 1832)

Born 20 Jan 1751 in Stamford Hill, London England

Ancestors

Wife of Edward Wakefield — married 3 Jan 1771 in Tottenham High Road, London

Descendants

Died 12 Sep 1832 at age 81 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Priscilla was a Friend (Quaker)

Priscilla Wakefield, nee Priscilla Bell (1751–1832) was an English Quaker, educational and feminist economics writer, and philanthropist.^[1]

She was born at Tottenham, Middlesex on 20 January 1750/1 (Quaker 11th month 1750)^[2][3] (See Research Notes.)

Priscilla was educated at home at Tottenham, where she learnt Latin and Greek.^[4]

Priscilla was also an Author and social worker. She wrote "A Family Tour through the British Empire"

Priscilla's marriage to Edward Wakefield at Tottenham Quaker Meeting House on 3 January 1771 was recorded by Tottenham Quaker Monthly Meeting, Middlesex.^[5] They had the following children:

• Isabella, born in Clements Court, Milk Street, St Lawrence Jewry (spelt Jury in the Quaker birth record), London on 3 March 1773^[6]
• Edward, born in Clements Court, Milk Street, St Lawrence Jewry (spelt Jury in the Quaker birth record), London on 29 July 1774^[7][8]
• Barclay, born in Clements Court, Milk Street, St Lawrence Jewry (spelt Jury in the Quaker birth record), London on 4 September 1775^[9][10]
• Daniel, born in Clements Court, Milk Street, St Lawrence Jewry (spelt Jury in the Quaker birth record), London on 23 October 1776^[11][12]

Priscilla's husband was a Quaker merchant of London and they lived in London until 1796, when they moved to Tottenham. In 1812 a combination of financial difficulties and her health problems led to them moving to Ipswich, Suffolk, where they lived near their daughter Isabella (Wakefield) Head.^[4] She was assisted in the moved by Kitty (Catherine Wakefield) - probably her granddaughter Catherine.^{[citation needed]}

Her later years were characterised by increasing ill-health and lameness.^[4][13] According to a work on the Wakefields by Philip Temple, she became wheelchair-bound.^[14]

Priscilla is best known as an author. Many of her books were non-fiction for children, and their coverage included natural history and travel (though she never travelled herself). In some of them she was critical of the slave trade and of cruelty to animals. In 1798 she published her one book intended for adults, Reflections on the Present Condition of the Female Sex, in which she advocated the education of women, and opportunities for them to train as teachers and become farmers. Letters sent to journals contain social criticism of, for instance, the conditions under which apprentices laboured, and the unequal pay given to female workers.^[4]

Priscilla was personally active as a Quaker philanthropist, organising maternity charities and supporting a school at Tottenham for the poor. At Tottenham she helped establish a club through which members could contribute regularly towards pensions when they reached 65. She also set up what has come to be regarded as the first savings bank in England.^[4]

Although she was a Quaker throughout her life, Priscilla did not adhere to traditional Quaker attitudes to dress and pastimes, and was fond of dancing and plays.^[4]

Priscilla died on 12 September 1832 at her daughter Isabella's home^[4] and was buried at Ipswich Quaker Burial Ground, Suffolk on 20 September.^[15] The record of Woodbridge Quaker Monthly Meeting records her residence as Ipswich and described her as widow of Edward.^[16]

Priscilla is famous in New Zealand as the grandmother of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the developer of early New Zealand. The Wakefield Scheme.

Research Notes

Birth Date

Wikipedia incorrectly gives her birth date as 31 January 1751.^[1] So does the original Dictionary of National Biography.^[17] The Oxford Dictionary of `National Biography gives the birth date as 20 November 1750, misinterpreting the Quaker 11th month 1750 as November.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Wikipedia: Priscilla Wakefield
2. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/1297, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Tottenham: Tottenham Monthly Meeting: births, FindMyPast: gives year as just 1750
3. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NPXZ-WVG : 4 February 2023), Danl. Jr. Bell in entry for Prisilla Bell, 1750: gives year as just 1750
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Ann B Shteir for 'Wakefield [née Bell], Priscilla', print and online 2004
5. ↑ England & Wales, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Marriages 1578-1841, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Tottenham: Tottenham Monthly Meeting, RG6/1297, FindMyPast and linked image
6. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/329, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex: Gracechurch Street Quaker Monthly Meeting Births, FindMyPast
7. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/329, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex: Gracechurch Street Quaker Monthly Meeting Births, FindMyPast
8. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQDV-QSM : 11 December 2014), Priscilla Wakefield in entry for Edward Wakefield, 29 Jul 1774, Birth Note; citing p. 27, London & Middlesex, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
9. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/329, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex: Gracechurch Street Quaker Monthly Meeting Births, FindMyPast
10. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWX7-JS3 : 11 December 2014), Priscilla Wakefield in entry for Barclay Wakefield, 04 Sep 1775, Birth; citing p. 427, London & Middlesex, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
11. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/329, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex: Gracechurch Street Quaker Monthly Meeting Births, FindMyPast
12. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWJ9-2Y7 : 11 December 2014), Priscilla Wakefield in entry for Daniel Wakefield, 23 Oct 1776, Birth; citing p. 59, London & Middlesex, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
13. ↑ Annual Monitor - Deaths, FindMyPast
14. ↑ Philip temple. A Sort of Conscience: the Wakefields, Auckland University Press. 2003
15. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F791-KQ9 : 11 December 2014), Priscilla Wakefield, 20 Sep 1832, Burial; citing p. 46, Woodbridge, Suffolk, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
16. ↑ England & Wales, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Burials 1578-1841, SUFFOLK: Monthly Meeting of Woodbridge, Beccles: Burials, RG6/568, FindMyPast and linked image
17. ↑ Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 58, pp. 455-456, Wikisource

• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 58, pp. 455-456, entry for 'WAKEFIELD, Mrs. PRISCILLA', Wikisource