John Wakefield

John Wakefield was an English merchant, financier and banker from the most prominent Quaker family in Kendal. Born in a family that was traditionally involved in shearmandying and moneylending activities, he continued to run the family enterprise after his father’s death in 1756. Eventually he expanded his business ventures to brewing, cotton textile manufacture and gunpowder production. He was the owner of the gunpowder mills in Gatebeck and in Sedgwick, Cumbria. There was an increased demand for gunpowder at the time as it was exchanged for African slaves. Due to his involvement in gunpowder trade he was disowned by the Quakers.

Wakefield also owned five ships that participated in trade with the West Indies carrying cargo of Kendal cotton from Liverpoool to Jamaica where it was exchanged for sugar. In 1788 he founded a bank in Kendal.