Elizabeth Fry

By Jannat Panhwar Class 7^th The Wendy School Karachi

Elizabeth Fry (Born 21 May 1780 died 12 October 1845) was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist.

Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to make the treatment of prisoners more humane, and she was supported in her efforts by the reigning monarch. Since 2001, she has been depicted on the Bank of England £5 note.

Birth and family background

Elizabeth Gurney was born in Gurney Court England to a Quaker family. Her family home as a child was Her father, John Gurney, was a partner in Gurney's bank. Her mother, Catherine, was a part of the Barclay family, who were among the founders of Barclays Bank. Her mother died when Elizabeth was only twelve years old. As one of the oldest girls in the family, Elizabeth was partly responsible for the care and training of the younger children, including her brother Joseph John Gurney. she had two children

Awakening of social concern

At the age of 18, young Elizabeth was deeply moved by the preaching of William Savery, an American Quaker. Motivated by his words, she took an interest in the poor, the sick, and the prisoners. She collected old clothes for the poor, visited those who were sick in her neighbourhood, and started a Sunday school in the summer house to teach children to read.

She met Joseph Fry (1777 – 1861), a banker and also a Quaker, when she was twenty years old. They married on August 19 1800 at the Norwich Goat Lane Friends Meeting House and moved to St Mildred's Court in the City of London. They had eight children in all[2] born between 1801 and 1822, including Katherine Fry (1801–1886), who wrote a History of the Parishes of East and West Ham (1888). Elizabeth Fry was recorded as a Minister of the Religious Society of Friends in 1811.

Joseph and Elizabeth Fry lived in Plashet House in East Ham between 1809 and 1829, then moved to Upton Lane in Forest Gate. One of their daughters, called Betsy, died at the age of five.

Prison work

Prompted by a family friend, Stephen Grellet, Fry visited Newgate prison. The conditions she saw there horrified her. The women's section was overcrowded with women and children, some of whom had not even received a trial. They did their own cooking and washing in the small cells in which they slept on straw. Elizabeth Fry often as in said in the book of prisons volume three that she actually stayed the nights in some of the prisons and invited nobility to come and stay and see the conditions they lived in.

She returned the following day with food and clothes for some of the prisoners. She was unable to further her work for nearly 4 years because of difficulties within the Fry family, including financial difficulties in the Fry bank. Fry returned in 1816 and was eventually able to find a prison school for the children who were imprisoned with their parents. She began a system of supervision and required the women to sew and to read the Bible. In 1817 she helped found the Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. This led to the eventual creation of the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners, widely described by biographers and historians as constituting the first "nationwide" women's organization in Britain.

Thomas Fowell Buxton, Fry's brother-in-law, was elected to Parliament for Weymouth and began to promote her work among his fellow MPs. In 1818 Fry gave evidence to a House of Commons committee on the conditions prevalent in British prisons, becoming the first woman to present evidence in Parliament.

Other humanitarian work

Elizabeth Fry also helped the homeless, establishing a "nightly shelter" in London after seeing the body of a young boy in the winter of 1819/1820. In 1824, during a visit to Brighton, she instituted the Brighton District Visiting Society. The society arranged for volunteers to visit the homes of the poor and provide help and comfort to them. The plan was successful and was duplicated in other districts and towns across Britain.

After her husband went bankrupt in 1828, Fry's brother became her business manager and benefactor. Thanks to him her work went on and expanded.

In 1840 Fry opened a training school for nurses. Her programmer inspired Florence Nightingale, who took a team of Fry's nurses to assist wounded soldiers in the Crimean War.

Death

Elizabeth Fry died from a stroke in Ramsgate, England, on 12 October 1845. Her remains were buried in the Friends' burial ground at Barking. Until this occasion, the Seamen of the Ramsgate Coast Guard flew their flag at half mast in respect of Mrs Fry; a practice reserved officially for the death of a ruling monarch.[3] Over a thousand people stood in silence during the burial.

Memorials

Two plaques commemorate her birthplace, at Smith Court, off Magdalen Street, Norwich, and her childhood home of Earlham Hall. There is also an Elizabeth Fry Road in Earlham. There is another plaque at St. Mildred's Court, City of London, where she lived when she was first married, which in turn is commemorated in St. Mildred's Road in Earlham.

On the campus of The University of East Anglia there is a modern building named in her honour, it is home to the university's School of Social Work and Psychology and is used many other schools for general teaching.

Her resting place at the former Society of Friends Burial Ground, off Whiting Avenue in Barking, Essex, was restored and on 8 October 2003, a new commemorative plinth made of marble was officially unveiled.

Elizabeth Fry is also depicted on two panels of the Quaker Tapestry, panels E5 and E6.

In February 2007 a new plaque was placed in her honour on the Friends Meeting House in Upper Goat Lane, Norwich.

The Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies honours her memory by advocating for women who are in the criminal justice system. They also celebrate and promote a National Elizabeth Fry Week in Canada each May.

Since 2001 Fry has been depicted on the reverse of £5 notes issued by the Bank of England. She is shown reading to prisoners at Newgate Prison. The design also incorporates a key, representing the key to the prison which was awarded to Fry in recognition of her work.

There is an Elizabeth Fry Ward in Scarborough Hospital in North Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

In the Lady Chapel of mancester's Anglican Cathedral one of the portrait windows of Noble Women on the West wall of the Chapel features Elizabeth Fry.

On the former British Television series Top of the pops there is a statue of Elizabeth Fry in the lobby of the Old Bailey set.