Priscilla Wakefield: Tottenham activist
Priscilla Wakefield: Tottenham activist
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  • Priscilla Wakefield
    • Life and times
    • Family >
      • Next generation
    • Declining health
    • Memorial
    • Where she lived
  • Economist
    • Female Benefit Club
    • First Savings Bank
    • Account of Savings Bank
    • Financial inclusion heroine
    • Microfinance >
      • Finding out more
      • Books on microfinance
  • Educationalist
    • Supporter of Girls Education
  • Writer
  • Women
    • Lying-in charity
    • Women in Tottenham's past
  • Activism Now
    • Tottenham Today >
      • Breadline London
      • Friends of Parks
      • Living under One Sun
      • Marcus Garvey Library
      • Quaker Garden
      • StART Housing
      • Stop the HDV
      • A Tale of Stadium-led Regeneration
      • Taxpayers Against Poverty
      • Wards Corner: shop locally
    • Quaker: New Economy
    • Quaker: Sustainability
  • Resources
    • Priscilla's books
    • Priscilla Wakefield banner
    • Who we are
Tottenham connections
She was a thorough Quaker in mind but (inconsistently) extremely fond of general Society and some Worldly amusements,
the theatre she was fond of but in those days it was an object of something like worthy interest. 
... I have enjoyed many a play with her!

Jonathan Bell at 82 years of age reminiscing about his sister, Priscilla.


Her memory is stamped to the world by her many valuable effusions, particularly addressed to the young people, now become perhaps rather obsolete,
but not less valuable. Her name, also, indeed Fame, will never be forgotten for one of her charitable acts: she was the original Instigator and Establisher
of the Savings Bank system, carried into practical operation by herself and a lady (a neighbour) of the name of Powell and these two are recorded in the
History of the Saving Bank. I speak of her charity - her whole life was a devotion of benevolence!

Jonathan Bell at 82 years of age reminiscing about his sister, Priscilla.


Furthermore Tottenham at this time was particularly attractive to wealthy families with it’s clean air and water and good educational facilities. 
It was also within easy reach of London. Neighbours in Tottenham Green included the Quakers Luke Howard and
BG Windus, Rowland Hill in Bruce Grove and William Hobson in South Tottenham.
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Eagle House, close to Priscilla Wakefield's home, John Bonny

Quakers were one of the groups of Dissenters, or Christians, who withdrew from the Church of England and founded their own places of worship.  They opposed state interference in religious matters, schools and communities and were persecuted and often imprisoned or fined for their dissenting views.

The Quakers were one of the non-conformist groups which settled in Tottenham. Dissenters were particularly attracted to Tottenham as it was outside of the City of London – an important consideration as The Five Mile Act (1665) was still in place. This prevented nonconformist ministers from coming within five miles of any corporation that returned members of parliament, or any parish where they had been the minister or preached. 

Religious dissenters faced widespread prejudice in Britain.

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Tottenham Friends Meeting House
The friendly spirit of usefulness and social service that characterizes Quaker thinking is evident in Priscilla Wakefield's philathropic work and in her writing; she had a strong sense of order and purpose in society. She was a lifelong Quaker but she disagreed with some Quaker habits of dress and behaviour.  She did not observe Quaker restrictions regarding dress and abstinence from amusements - she loved the theatre, music and dancing.

True religion is of sterling value, but I long to be set free from the slavish shackles of the prejudices of my infancy and the false lights of enthusiasm
27 June 1799


The Religious Society of Friends, often referred to as Quakers or Friends, were one non-conformist group which settled in Tottenham.  Members of the various Quaker movements are all generally united in a belief in the ability of each human being to experientially access "the light within", or "that of God in every person".

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Sunnyside, Priscilla Wakefield's home
Extracts from her diary which she began in 1796:
1 February 1798: Yesterday completed my 47th year - the thought should stimulate me to give greater diligence in the great business of my existence. How much is there to do and how little time to do it in!

7 June 1798: Dan down. ‘Reflections' published -
I hope they will continue to procure a reputation as well as profit.


25 July 1798: Concluded the Club Rules- My mind anxious on many important concerns that I dare not commit to paper fixed principles of action are the only ground for peace of mind and the only support through the vicissitudes of life



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John Constable by Daniel Gardner, 1796

John Constable

Priscilla Wakefield often spent time with the Cobbold family in Ipswich, Suffolk. During one of her visits she met the young John Constable and was so impressed by his modesty and ability that she provided him with a letter of introduction to Joseph Farington from the Royal Academy. She said he was 'a pleasing modest young man—who had a natural genius for painting.'

Many years later Constable wrote to his
fiancée, Maria:
Mrs. Wakefeild [sic] did me a very signal service on my first coming to London—by giving me a letter of recommendation to Mr Farington.

Click on link to find out more about Constable's connections with Tottenham

Luke Howard: such an excellent man
Luke Howard the Namer of Clouds, is commemorated with the only English Heritage Blue Plaque in Tottenham. He is also known as the Father of meteorology for his detailed observations over many years of the weather and cloud formations. Luke Howard was an active Quaker involved in social justice campaigns including the Anti-Slavery movement, Society Against Capital Punishment, Society Against Cruelty to Animals and a founding member of the African Institution. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was an admirer of Luke Howard's system of categorising clouds and wrote a poem In honour of Mr Howard. For more information on Luke Howard visit Tottenham Clouds.
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Luke Howard by John Opie
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BG Windus: Patron of  JMW Turner
During the lifetime of JMW Turner, the Windus collection was one of the largest and most distinguished of its kind and recognised as the best place in London to see Turner's work . After JMW Turner died in 1851 BG Windus became an early patron of the PreRaphaelite Movement owning some of their most famous paintings - Ophelia by JE Millais, The Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt and Last of England by Ford Madox Brown. More here



From Priscilla Wakefield's Obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine:

In her private character, whether as a daughter, wife, mother, or grand-mother, Mrs. Wakefield was exemplary; in her disposition, remarkably calm and cheerful, bearing with great patience an accumulation of extreme bodily suffering : indeed, her whole conduct discovered an energy, philosophy, meekness, and resignation, rarely to be met with. 

Full obituary here

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Contact: PWForgottenHeroine@gmail.com

Follow: Priscilla Wakefield on Twitter @TottenhamQuaker