Edward Wakefield (Philanthropist)

Edward Wakefield (born July 29, 1774 in Tottenham , London , England , † May 18, 1854 in England) was a farmer, at times reformer, political author and realtor. He came from the Wakefield family .

The best known of his children were Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796-1862), Daniel Bell Wakefield (1798-1858), Arthur Wakefield (1799-1843), William Hayward Wakefield (1801-1848) and Felix Wakefield (1807-1875).

Life

Edward Wakefield was the second child of Edward Wakefield (1750-1826) and Priscilla Bell (1751-1832) in London . His father was a philanthropist and businessman and his mother a writer.

In October 1791, when Edward was just 17 years old, he married Susanna Crush (1767-1816), the daughter of a small farmer from Felstead, Essex, who was almost seven years his senior. His first daughter Catherine Gurney was born on July 17, 1793. Eight more children were to follow.

In 1798, Edward worked partially in the City of London while trying to get a large farm in Romford up and running. But after a few setbacks with the farm, he started again with a smaller farm in Burnham Wyck in June 1799, to the chagrin of his family. Due to the swampy surroundings of the farm, malaria was normal in this area in the early 19th century, not only the health of the family deteriorated, but also the finances. In 1807 Edward gave up the farm and turned away from agriculture.

In June 1808 he went to Ireland for a statistical survey for 18 months , which on the one hand was a stimulating job with a prospect of income, but on the other hand it was also a welcome escape from everyday family life with all its problems.

In October 1813, with the help of Arthur Young , author of economic and statistical works, Edward started his business as a realtor near Bury St. Edmunds , opened another office in St. James and the following year in Pall Mall , London.

After his wife Susanna died in 1816, he secretly married his second wife, Frances Davis , in 1822 at the British Embassy in Paris . They went to Blois in France together , where Edward ran a silk factory. He had his property affairs handled by an agent in London. He never got over the death of his favorite son Arthur Wakefield , who fell in the Wairau tumult in New Zealand in 1843 . In letters to the British government, he called for retribution for his son's death. All in all, it became quiet around him from now on. Nothing is known about the years up to his death, not even when he went back to England .

Edward Wakefield died on May 18, 1854 in an unknown location in England.

Services

Edward Wakefield is mainly known for his work An Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political , published in Great Britain in 1812 with an edition of 750 copies. In the years 1808/1809 he traveled to Ireland, came into contact with officials, the wealthy and also simple people from the country and thus established a statistical as well as political inventory of the situation in Ireland shortly after the turn of the century.

His work consisted of 31 parts, with detailed descriptions of the provinces, natural and human resources, agriculture, fisheries, communication structures, education, religious penetration of society and its function, industry, trade and administration, the political and living conditions of the population, including a description of their habits and behavior. Edward's work probably had no impact on the British government's policy on Ireland, but the work became the most cited reference of its time when it came to Ireland .

The work also brought him into contact and close friendship with Francis Place , a utilitarian and philanthropist and supporter of Malthus' population theory . Its aim was to achieve the political self-education of the working class through reading, conversation and discussion. Edward became a regular visitor to his library and the discussion groups held there.

In 1814, Edward Wakefield, Francis Place, William Allen, and James Mill applied for a home, care and healing, for the insane. In September of that year Edward Wakefield and Francis Place made a walk from London to the West Country , visited accommodations in which the mentally weak were housed and demanded a bed block for 400 people based on the model in York . In 1815, Edward published a scandal in the placement of the mentally handicapped in the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London. Edward Wakefield and Francis Place fought against the scandalous Corn Laws , which protected the income of rich landowners to the detriment of the poor, for whom bread was an important staple food. In 1816 Edward made an 800 mile march through England to visit prisons and report on the dire situation in them. The report was never published by him because he could not secure the income of the large family without financial support for the report.

Works

• An Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political . London 1812 (English, two volumes).

literature

• Philip Temple : A sort of conscience - The Wakefields . Auckland University Press , Auckland 2002, ISBN 1-86940-276-6 (English).