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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


To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here:  / @ftthestoryofmoney  


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


","author_name":"Financial Times"}