Wakefield
Wakefield names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Wakefield the capital of the West Riding of Yorkshire
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the capital of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on the Calder at a convergence of railways, 9 miles S. S. E. of Leeds, 27 S. S. W. of York, and 19 N. W. of Doncaster. In 1888 it was constituted the seat of a bishopric. Its cathedral, formerly the fine Perpendicular parish church, enlarged and reconsecrated in 1329, and' again enlarged about 1470, was restored in 1857-1886 from designs by Sir G. G. Scott, and has a tower and spire 227 feet high. On the eight-arch bridge over an interesting chapel the Calder is founded in 1357 by the townsmen of Wakefield, a building in the beautiful flowing Decorated style; it also was re stored in 1847. At the grammar school, chartered in 1591, and removed to new buildings on a different site in 1855, were educated Dr. Radcliffe, Archbishop Potter, the Benedictine Cressy, and Bentley, the first two of whom were natives. The town hall, French Renaissance in style, was erected in 1880; and other buildings are the corn exchange; fine art institute, Clayton hospital, and lunatic asylum. Though not the great "clothing town" it was formerly, Wakefield still has considerable manufactures of woolens, worsteds, and hosiery, as also of agricultural implements, machinery, etc. The chief event in the history of Wakefield is the Yorkist defeat in the Wars of the Roses, on Dec. 31, 1460. Pop. about 55,000.
Wakefield GILBERT, an English clergyman
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GILBERT, an English clergyman; born in Nottingham, England, Feb. 22, 1756; was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, of which he became fellow. He took orders, but renounced the Anglican communion, labored as classical tutor in dissenting academies at Warrington and Hackney, lay two years in Dorchester jail for a so-called seditious libel in answer to Bishop Watson, for which his political friends confriends soled him with a gift of $25,000. He published editions of Bion and Moschus, Vergil, Horace, and Lucretius; "Christian Writers of the Three First Centuries on the Person of Christ" (1784), left unfinished; "Inquiry into the Expediency and Propriety of Social Worship" (1791), the necessity for which he denied; "An Examination of Paine's Age of Reason" (1794); and "Silva Critica," a collection intended to illustrate the Scriptures from the stores of profane learning (1789-1795). He died in London, Sept. 9, 1801.
Wakefield EDWARD GIBBON, an English colonist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
EDWARD GIBBON, an English colonist; born in London, March 20, 1796; was in 1826 imprisoned for abducting a young lady and marrying her at Gretna Green. During his imprisonment he studied colonial questions with zeal, and after his liberation assisted in the colonization of South Australia. He was private secretary to Lord Durham in Canada in 1838, but is best known for his services to 'New Zealand colonization as managing director of the New Zealand Association. He was one of the founders of the High Church colony of Canterbury, where he died May 16, 1862.
Wakefield a town including several villages
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a town including several villages, in Middlesex co., Mass. It is on the Boston and Maine railroads. Its industries include rattan goods, knit goods, pianos, stoves, shoes, etc. It has a town hall, a public library, and a home for aged women. Pop. (1910) 11,404; (1920) 13,025.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The West Riding that Collier's called Wakefield's domain in 1921 no longer exists: local government reorganisation in 1974 abolished it, and Wakefield became a metropolitan district of the new county of West Yorkshire, its population now roughly double the 55,000 given here. The woollen and worsted trade the entry already described as declining has gone entirely, as has the coalfield around it, commemorated since 1988 by the National Coal Mining Museum for England at nearby Overton; the city now trades on art, with the Hepworth Wakefield gallery opened in 2011 and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park close by. The cathedral, the 1357 chantry chapel on the bridge and the medieval battle of 1460 all still stand as described. Edward Gibbon Wakefield's reputation has moved furthest: once praised for "services to New Zealand colonization", his systematic colonisation schemes and the New Zealand Company's land dealings with Maori are now treated far more critically, and the Waitangi Tribunal has examined their consequences. Wakefield, Massachusetts, has grown from 13,025 in 1920 to around 27,000, a Boston commuter suburb rather than a maker of rattan goods and stoves.
Written for this edition, 2026.