Priscilla Wakefield's green plaque

Priscilla Wakefield's green plaque remembers the Quaker philanthropist, writer and feminist economist who founded Britian’s first savings bank in 1798.

Background

Born into a Quaker family in Tottenham, north London, Priscilla Wakefield (1751 – 1832) married the merchant Edward Wakefield in January 1771. The couple soon had three children, but they fell on hard times as Edward made a series of business losses. To support the family, Wakefield turned to writing in order to gain an income.

Writing career

Over the course of the next 20 years she wrote 17 books. Wakefield covered a range of subjects including natural science, feminism and economics. She also wrote children's literature and, inspired by the Quaker botanists, she produced several watercolours.

Wakefield was one of many female English writers at the end of the 18th century who began to campaign for women to have a broader role in society. In 1798, she published a feminist work, Reflection on the Present Condition of the Female Sex.

The book was written in response to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, published two years earlier. In Reflection on the Present Condition of the Female Sex, Wakefield examines women's prospects for employment in the modern world and asks what wealth might be created by more women receiving an education.

Wakefield also wrote on the abolition of slavery as well as prison reform, and was involved in Quaker campaigning on both issues.

Charity work

During her writing career, Wakefield also became a social activist in alleviating poverty in north London. In 1791, she founded the Lying-In Charity for Women near her home in Tottenham to support around 120 poor women a year during and after childbirth.

The following year she founded the School for Industry, which educated 36 girls in reading, writing and arithmetic as well as sewing and knitting.

England's first savings bank

In Tottenham in 1798, Wakefield founded the Benefit Club, which provided loans to women that were far cheaper than those offered by pawnbrokers who exploited the poor. The club also incorporated the Children's Bank.

Through the Children's Bank, anyone could open an account on behalf of a child and make monthly payments of a penny or more. Annual interest accrued on deposits, making it the first savings bank in England.

In 1804, using the model of the Benefit Club, Wakefield established the Tottenham Benefit Bank. This paid 5% annual interest on deposits of £1 or more. The first account was opened by a 14-year-old orphan girl who deposited £2, which she had initially saved with the Benefit Club.

The Benefit Club inspired other savings banks across the country and by 1816 there were 74 in England. Today there are an estimated 250 million postal savings accounts worldwide, all of which trace their origins back to Wakefield's foresight.

In 1832, cared for by her sisters, Priscilla Wakefield died aged 81.

A green plaque was erected in 2018, on the 220th anniversary of the Benefit Club, near the north London home where she had lived.

Click here for the website, Priscilla Wakefield: Tottenham activist

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