Samuel Wilderspin

Samuel Wilderspin (23 March 1791, London – 1866) was an English educator known for his pioneering work on infant schools. His belief was that a child should be encouraged to learn through experience, and to development in feelings as well as intellect. His work provided the model for infant schools in Europe and North America.

Wilderspin was apprenticed as a clerk in the City of London, but later trained in infant education. Through a New Jerusalem Church in south London, he met James Buchanan, an Owenite who had recently set up an infant school at Brewer's Green in Westminster. With his wife Sarah Anne, Wilderspin ran an infant school in Spitalfields, London, from 1820. This school particularly impressed David Stow, who invited Wilderspin to Glasgow to lecture on it.

Wilderspin published On the Importance of Educating the Infant Poor in 1823, based on his experiences in Spitalfields. He began working for the Infant School Society the next year, informing others about his views on education. It folded in 1828, but Wilderspin continued to propagate his views nationally.

The ideas current at this time on infant education went back to J. F. Oberlin and Robert Owen. Wilderspin's approach to schooling as necessary for a socially and morally prepared child was informed by his Swedenborgianism.

Play was an important part of Wilderspin's system of education, and he is credited with the invention of the playground. He also ran a company supplying apparatus for playground activities.

Wilderspin wrote:

Samuel Wilderspin wrote "The Infant System,for developing the physical, intellectual, and moral powers off all children from 1 to seven years of age".

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