Priscilla Wakefield, nee Priscilla Bell (31 January 1751 – 12 September 1832) was an English Quaker philanthropist and prolific author. She promoted social projects for the benefit of women and children such as schools and maternity hospitals. Her writings were wide-ranging: she wrote about feminist economics, as well as scientific subjects, in particular the popular eighteenth-century discipline of botany. She was widely known for her moral and instructional writings for children. Life Priscilla Bell was born into a family in Tottenham, then a Middlesex village north of London. Her father was Daniel Bell of nearby Stamford Hill. His wife Catherine was the granddaughter of the Quaker theologian Robert Barclay. She was one of several sisters, one of whom, Catherine Bell, married John Gurney of Earlham Hall and had many notable children, the best-known being Elizabeth Fry. In adult life, Wakefield remained a member of the Society of Friends, and conformed to their religious practices, but did not observe the restrictions on dress or abstinence from amusements. She married Edward Wakefield (1750–1826), a London merchant, and had three children. Writing to support her family financially, she wrote 17 books in two decades. She was one of many female English writers at the end of the 18th century who began to demand a broader life for women. Charities which she founded included a maternity hospital, a Female Benefit Club, and a penny bank for children, which developed into England's first savings bank. The Wakefields had five children, of whom three survived to adulthood. The two surviving sons were Edward Wakefield (1774–1854) and Daniel Wakefield. The surviving daughter, Isabella (3 March 1773 – 17 October 1841), married Joshua Head of Ipswich on 12 September 1794. Her grandchildren included Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Daniel Bell Wakefield, William Hayward Wakefield, Arthur Wakefield and Felix Wakefield. Wakefield died at the house of her daughter, Isabella Head, on Albion Hill, Ipswich, on 12 September 1832, and was buried on 20 December in the Friends' burial ground at the town's New Meeting House. A portrait of Wakefield, her husband Edward Wakefield and her sister, Catherine Bell Gurney, painted by Francis Wheatley, was exhibited in South Kensington in 1868. A portrait in lithograph appears in the London Friends' Institute. Writing Wakefield wrote books on a range of subjects, including natural science, feminism, and economics. She also wrote children's literature. Wakefield published a book on feminism in 1798, Reflection on the