[Dublin University Magazine, May 1875, which contains a portrait of Sir William Wilde; the Irish newspapers, April 1876; personal knowledge.]
WILDERSPIN, SAMUEL (1792?–1866), joint-founder of the infant school system in England, was the son of Alexander Wilderspin, and was born at Hornsey, Middlesex, in or about 1792. He began life as a clerk in a merchant's office, but left this occupation to devote himself to the development of infant schools. He was not the originator of the system, the credit of which is generally given to Oberlin, pastor of Waldbach in Alsace, and, in Great Britain, to Robert Owen [q. v.] of New Lanark. But when Lord Brougham and others resolved to open an infant school at Brewer's Green, Westminster, Wilderspin threw himself into the movement, and opened on his own account in 1820 a similar institution at Spitalfields. The difficulties he and his devoted wife had to cope with in their first attempts are amusingly told in his ‘Early Discipline.’ From this time his life was spent in extending the system of infant schools over the United Kingdom. At the invitation of David Stow [q. v.] he gave some lectures at Edinburgh and Glasgow. For two years (1839–41) he was headmaster of the central model school in Dublin. He finally received a pension from government, and retired to Wakefield, Yorkshire, about 1848. He died there on 10 March 1866, and was buried at the neighbouring church of Thornes.
Wilderspin was twice married. By his first wife he had three daughters. His second wife, a widow named Dowding, survived him, and died in 1873. He was a man of small stature, but very alert, and in public speaking used a good deal of action. He was also a fearless rider, and the one recreation he allowed himself was occasionally to follow the hounds. Wilderspin wrote:
- ‘On the Importance of educating the Infant Poor,’ 2nd ed. London, 1824, 8vo; a third edition appeared in 1825 as ‘Infant Education; or, Remarks on the Importance,’ &c.
- ‘Early Discipline illustrated,’ London, 1832, 12mo; 3rd ed. 1840.
- ‘A System of Education for the Young,’ London, 1840, 8vo.
- ‘A Manual for the Instruction of Young Children’ (conjointly with T. J. Terrington), London and Hull, 1845, 8vo.
- ‘The Infant System for Developing,’ &c. (in this he calls himself ‘inventor of the system of infant training’), 8th ed. London, 1852, 12mo.
Disciples of Swedenborg maintain that it was from the ‘new church’ writings he formed his system.
[Leitch's Practical Educationists and their Systems, 1876, pp. 166–85; Wilderspin's own writings: Blackwood's Mag. xxv. 393; Robert Owen's Autob.; information from the Rev. W. C. Boulter, Mr. Christopher Todd of Loughborough, Mr. James Speirs, and Mr. S. J. Hodson.]
WILDMAN, Sir JOHN (1621?–1693), politician, born about 1621, was, according to Clarendon, ‘bred a scholar in the university of Cambridge’ (Rebellion, xiv. 48). He seems to have served for a time in Sir Thomas Fairfax's lifeguards, probably about 1646, as it is hinted that he was not one of that body in the days of fighting, and had certainly ceased to belong to it by the autumn of 1647 (cf. The Triumph Stained, by G. Masterson, 1647, 4to, p. 15). In the autumn of 1647, when the soldiers of the new model became suspicious of their leaders for negotiating with Charles I, and some regiments appointed new ‘agents’ in place of the ‘agitators’ elected in the previous May, Wildman was the chief instigator and the spokesman of the movement. He published a violent attack on Cromwell and the chief officers, entitled ‘Putney Projects,’ and was probably the author of the manifesto called ‘The Case of the Army Stated’ (cf. Clarke Papers, i. 347, 356). At the meeting of the general council of the army at Putney, on 28 Oct. 1647, the five agents who represented the dissentient regiments were accompanied by Wildman and another civilian. The soldiers, explained Wildman, ‘desired me to be their mouth,’ and he argued on their behalf that the engagements entered into with the king should be cancelled, monarchy and the House of Lords abolished, and manhood suffrage established. He also demanded that the officers should accept the ‘Agreement of the People’ just put forth by the five regiments (ib. vol. i. pp. xlviii, 240, 259, 317, 386).
On 18 Jan. 1648 Wildman and Lieutenant-colonel John Lilburne [q. v.] were informed against by George Masterson, minister of Shoreditch, for promoting a seditious petition, and summoned to the bar of the House of Commons. The house committed both to Newgate. Bail was refused, and, in spite of frequent petitions for their release, they remained in prison until 2 Aug. 1648 (A Declaration of the Proceedings of Lieutenant-colonel John Lilburne and his Associates, 1648, 4to; Commons' Journals, v. 437, 469). Wildman's speech at the bar of the house was very ineffective, and the pamphlet he published in answer to Masterson's
