The 18th-century woman who made saving possible for the poor

Priscilla Wakefield was a Quaker, writer and social reformer who believed financial security shouldn’t be reserved for the wealthy. Living in late 18th- and early 19th-century England, she founded the country’s first penny savings bank, giving working women and children a safe place to save. Victoria Bateman, author of Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power, tells hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth about Wakefield’s life, her ideas and how a simple concept — saving small sums — helped spark a quiet revolution in financial inclusion, with lessons for today. But that didn’t stop Wakefield from running into financial problems of her own.

Further reading:
Economica: A global history of women, wealth and power, by Victoria Bateman (2025)
Reflections on the present condition of the female sex, by Priscilla Wakefield, (reprinted 2015, Cambridge University Press)

Credits: Cambridge Library Collection, National Portrait Gallery, Disruption Worthies, National Park Service, Hollinger & Rockey

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Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth
Producers: Lulu Smyth and Laurence Knight
Executive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela Saragosa
Original music: Breen Turner
Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis
Podcast Development: Laura Clarke
Video editor: Kristen Kenyon and Josh Divney at Podcast Discovery

Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com (ft.com/content/98735cd5-23f0-4534-8822-c80e7b8…)

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