Priscilla Wakefield

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PW 's sixteen titles, begun at a time when she was past forty and spanning the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, were all published with the aim of improving the state of the world as well as making some income that was much needed by her family. She wrote, chiefly for young people, of scientific knowledge, of other countries, and of history, casting her works in dialogues, letters, or narrative. She also examined the condition of women.
Stipple engraving of Priscilla Wakefield by James Thompson after Thomas Charles Wageman, published 1818. She sits with her hands clasped in her lap, wearing a dress, shawl, and an elaborate cap which encircles her face, leaving a few dark curls visible. Her name is written in italics below.

Milestones

20 November 1750

Priscilla Bell (later PW ) was born at Tottenham in Middlesex, then just outside London. She was the eldest in a family of six.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

1794-1796

PW , in her early forties, published her first work to reach completion, the historical Leisure Hours; or, Entertaining Dialogues between Persons Eminent for Virtue and Magnanimity, through Darton and Harvey , in two volumes.
Wakefield, Priscilla. Leisure Hours. Darton and Harvey.
title-page
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall.
2d ser. 18 (1796): 116

By August 1796

PW published what became her most famous work, An Introduction to Botany, in a series of Familiar Letters with illustrative engravings: the first comprehensive survey of botany to be written by a woman.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall.
2d ser. 17 (1796): 478
Shteir, Ann B. Cultivating Women, Cultivating Science. Johns Hopkins University Press.
83

1816

PW published An Introduction to the Natural History and Classification of Insects.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

12 September 1832

PW died at Ipswich, aged ninety-one.
“FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Biography

Birth and Family

20 November 1750

Priscilla Bell (later PW ) was born at Tottenham in Middlesex, then just outside London. She was the eldest in a family of six.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

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