James Green, 1771-1834 Portrait of the Rev Gilbert Wakefield 1756–1801

James Green, 1771-1834

Portrait of The Rev Gilbert Wakefield 1756–1801

Signed/Inscribed:

"J Green 1795"

pencil and watercolour

21 x 18 cm. 8.14/ x 7.1/4 in.

Gilbert Wakefield, (1756–1801), biblical scholar and religious controversialist, born on 22 February 1756 in the parsonage-house of St Nicholas's, Nottingham, was the third son of George Wakefield (1720–1776), rector of that parish and later vicar of Richmond and Kingston, and his wife, Elizabeth (1721–1800), whose grandfather had been twice mayor of Nottingham. From infancy, Wakefield showed a remarkable aptitude for learning, but his early education was erratic: passed from master to master, he made considerable progress after enrolling at the free school of Kingston in 1770. There he was among the last to study with Richard Wooddeson, who had counted George Steevens, Edward Gibbon, and William Hayley among his scholars.

In April 1772 Wakefield entered Jesus College, Cambridge, having obtained a Marsden scholarship, established ‘for the son of a living clergyman, born at Nottingham, both of which conditions were united in me’ (Memoirs of the Life, 1.62). As was customary, he divided his studies between mathematics and classics, preferring the latter, but applying himself to the former ‘with all the assiduity that I could bear’ (ibid., 1.83). When not engaged in formal study, he taught himself Hebrew, played cricket and fished, published a volume of Latin verse (1776), and befriended Robert Tyrwhitt and John Jebb (who also inclined to Unitarian views). He received his BA in January 1776, second wrangler and second chancellor medallist in classics. In April of that year he was elected fellow of his college.

Wakefield spent the years of his fellowship dedicated to biblical studies, acquiring several oriental languages as he did so. In 1778 he was ordained deacon, in spite of growing doubts about matters of doctrine and scruples about the practice of subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles (several Jesuans, including Tyrwhitt, had recently resigned their fellowships over this practice). It was, he later wrote, ‘the most disingenuous action of my whole life; utterly incapable of palliation or apology’ (Memoirs of the Life, 1.121). His clerical life lasted just over a year: he served as curate in Stockport, Cheshire, under a Mr Watson, then successively at St Peter's and St Paul's in Liverpool, all the while hoping to find employment as a schoolmaster. In Liverpool he crusaded against the slave trade and British privateering, and denounced both practices from the pulpit, angering many parishioners. This was the first sign of the political activism that was to characterize his later life.

On 23 March 1779 Wakefield married Anne Watson (d. 1819), the niece of his rector in Stockport. The couple had five sons and two daughters. Wakefield gave up his fellowship on marrying, and shortly afterwards he resigned his curacy as well because of doctrinal differences. Wakefield's study of scripture had led him to reject the doctrines of the Trinity and incarnation. Yet he embraced the teachings of Jesus Christ, whom he regarded as the greatest moral philosopher, sent by God to redeem mankind. Chief among these teachings was the mandate to love one another, and the corollary to it was service to the poor, respect for individual liberty, and the pursuit of peace. Initially he was opposed to all but defensive war, and later became a total pacifist. Although technically a dissenter or Unitarian, Wakefield never associated himself with any sect or congregation, being averse to most forms of worship.

In the summer of 1779 Wakefield accepted an appointment as classical tutor at Warrington Academy, the prominent dissenting academy where Joseph Priestley had taught, and where John Aikin was tutor of divinity and William Enfield tutor of philosophy. The years at Warring