WAKEFELD, THOMAS (d. 1575), first regius professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, was born at Pontefract in Yorkshire. Robert Wakefeld [q. v.] was a brother, and so probably was John Wakefeld, gentleman, controller of the household of Archbishop Cranmer (Maitland, Early Printed Books, 354; Remains of Thomas Cranmer, ed. Jenkyns, i. 233). He was educated at Cambridge, but in what hall or college is not known (Cooper, Athenae Cantabr. i. 337). On 9 Nov. 1540, being then master of arts, he was appointed by Henry VIII to the newly established professorship of Hebrew at Cambridge (Lansdowne MS. 980, f. 1; Ascham, Epist. 1590, p. 106). This carried with it membership of Trinity College. Between 1549 and 1553, and again between 1569 and 1575, the office of reading the Hebrew lecture was discharged by others (Lamb, History of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, p. 233; cf. arts. Fagius, Paul, and Tremellius, John Immanuel); whence it has been inferred that Wakefeld was disqualified by his adherence to the old religion, his learning and capacity being unquestioned (Mullinger, University of Cambridge, ii. 416-17).
Wakefeld was twice married: first at the age of forty. He had nine children, three sons and six daughters. These particulars he has himself recorded in a marginal note on a passage of 'Philo' (Maitland, Early Printed Books, p. 357). He died in 1575, and was buried on 24 April at Chesterton, near Cambridge, where one wife was buried on 26 Dec. 1570 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547-80, p. 255). A Thomas Wakefeld of Cambridge, possibly a son, was admitted of Brasenose College, Oxford, and matriculated on 20 July 1578, at the age of sixteen (Foster, Alumni Oxon. iv. 1553). A Thomas Wakefeld was also servant to Archbishop Cranmer in 1537 (Remains of Cranmer, ed. Jenkyns, i. 205).
Wakefeld wrote 'Locutiones seu Phrases in Novo Testamento, quae videntur secundum proprietates linguae Hebraeae;' but the work, so far as can be ascertained, has never been printed. Many rare books bearing annotations by him are now in the library of Lambeth Palace.
[Authorities quoted in text. Most of them are referred to by Cooper.]
WAKEFIELD, DANIEL (1776–1846), writer on political economy, second son of Edward Wakefield, merchant, of London, by his wife Priscilla [q. v.], daughter of Daniel Bell, was born in 1776. Edward Wakefield [q. v.] was his elder brother, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield [q. v.] his nephew. He received from private tutors a thorough classical and modern education, and early showed a certain aptitude for the analysis of economic problems, but abandoned such pursuits for the more lucrative occupation of an equity draughtsman. He was admitted on 9 Feb. 1802 student at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar on 2 May 1807, and elected bencher on 15 Jan. 1835, having taken silk in the previous Michaelmas vacation. He was a singularly conscientious as well as able equity practitioner, and took an active part in the administration of the affairs of his inn, particularly in the planning and promotion of the building of the new hall. He died without issue, though twice married, on 19 July 1846. His remains were interred on 24 July in Lincoln's Inn chapel. His portrait, engraved from a drawing by Wivell, is in the British Museum.
Besides anonymous pamphlets and contributions to Arthur Young's ‘Annals of Agriculture,’ Wakefield was author of the following:
- ‘A Letter to Thomas Paine, in reply to his “Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance,”’ London, 1796, 8vo.
- ‘Observations on the Credit and Finances of Great Britain, in reply to the “Thoughts” of the Earl of Lauderdale and the “Appeal” of Mr. Morgan,’ London, 1797, 8vo [cf. Maitland, James, eighth Earl of Lauderdale; and Morgan, William, (1750–1833)].
- ‘An Essay upon Political Economy; being an Inquiry into the truth of the two positions of the French Economists that labour employed in manufactures is unproductive, and that all taxes ultimately fall upon or settle in the surplus produce of land,’ London, 1799, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1804.
- . ‘An Investigation of Mr. Morgan's “Comparative View of the Public Finances from the beginning to the close of the late Administration,”’ London,’ 1801, 8vo.
- . ‘A Letter to the Landholders and other Contributors to the Poor's Rates in the Hundred of Dengye, Sussex,’ 1802, 8vo.
[Lincoln's Inn Register and Records, ii. 9, 122; Law List, 1809; Gent. Mag. 1846, ii. 323; Smith's Friends' Books; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
WAKEFIELD, EDWARD (1774–1854), philanthropist and statistician, was the eldest son of Edward and Priscilla Wakefield [q. v.], and was born in 1774. Wakefield commenced life as a farmer near Romford in Essex, and was subsequently employed under the naval arsenal. In 1814 he established himself as a land agent at 42 Pall Mall. He soon became well known as an authority on agriculture, while his interest in education
