In 1792, Wakefield co-founded the School for Industry, which taught girls reading, writing, sewing, knitting and arithmetic. In 1798. she founded the first "frugality bank" in England, to help those on low incomes save money. Members paid according to age a monthly sum that would give them sick pay and a pension at 60. Women and children were encouraged to save what they could of their income. Similar savings banks were set up nationally, but they were effectively nationalised when the Post Office Savings Bank was founded in 1865.
