John Wakefield I (1738–1811) was an English Quaker merchant and entrepreneur, financier and banker, based in Kendal, at that time in Westmorland.
[2] His father however died young, in 1756; Mary Wakefield carried on what was a substantial business that included finance as well as dyeing.
[2] Wakefield had an interest in the Gatebeck gunpowder mill, operating from 1764 in an existing family property set on the River Bela.
[5] In 1806 the Kendal Monthly Meeting of Quakers censured Wakefield because of his continuing involvement in the gunpowder trade.
This establishment was simultaneous with the other initial bank in Kendal, set up by Joseph Maude, Thomas Crewdson and Christopher Wilson.