39 Facts About Elizabeth Fry

Elizabeth Fry, sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker.

Elizabeth Fry was supported in her efforts by Queen Victoria and by Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I of Russia; she was in correspondence with both Alexander and Nicholas, their wives, and the Empress Mother.

Elizabeth Fry was born in Gurney Court, off Magdalen Street, Norwich, into a prominent Quaker family, the Gurneys.

Elizabeth Fry's father, John Gurney, was a partner in Gurney's Bank.

Elizabeth Fry's mother, Catherine, was a member of the Barclay family, who were among the founders of Barclays Bank.

Elizabeth Fry's mother died when Elizabeth was twelve years old.

Elizabeth Fry met Joseph Fry, a banker and a cousin of the Bristol Fry family, who was a Quaker, when she was 20 years old.

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 The Cedars on Portway in West Ham, where they lived until 1844.

Elizabeth Fry had more religious feelings than her immediate family.

Elizabeth Fry returned the following day with food and clothes for some prisoners.

Elizabeth Fry returned to her project in 1816, and was eventually able to fund a prison school for the children who were imprisoned with their mothers.

Elizabeth Fry promoted the idea of rehabilitation instead of harsh punishment which was taken on by the city authorities in London as well as many other authorities and prisons.

Elizabeth Fry campaigned for the rights and welfare of prisoners who were being transported.

Elizabeth Fry persuaded the governor of the prison to send the women in closed carriages and spare them this last indignity before transportation, with Elizabeth Fry and the other women of the Ladies' Society accompanying those transports to the docks.

Elizabeth Fry visited prison ships and persuaded captains to implement systems to ensure each woman and child would at least get a share of food and water on the long journey.

Elizabeth Fry included a bible, and useful items such as string and knives and forks, in this vital care package.

Elizabeth Fry lobbied for better conditions for the women who had already been transported to the colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, including aspects of the factories that they worked in.

Elizabeth Fry's work helped to start a movement for the abolition of transportation.

Transportation was officially abolished in 1868; however, Elizabeth Fry was still visiting transportation ships until 1843.

Elizabeth Fry wrote in her book Prisons in Scotland and the North of England that she stayed the night in some of the prisons and invited nobility to come and stay and see for themselves the conditions prisoners lived in.

Elizabeth Fry's kindness helped her gain the friendship of the prisoners and they began to try to improve their conditions for themselves.

Thomas Fowell Buxton, Elizabeth Fry's brother-in-law, was elected to Parliament for Weymouth and began to promote her work among his fellow MPs.

In 1818 Elizabeth Fry gave evidence to a House of Commons committee on the conditions prevalent in British prisons, becoming the first woman to present evidence in that house of Parliament.

Elizabeth Fry saw her friend Stephen Grellet and another Quaker, William Allen, off at the docks on their own journey in the cause of prison reform in the autumn of 1818.

In 1827, Elizabeth Fry visited women's prisons and other places of female confinement in Ireland.

Elizabeth Fry encouraged the women of Belfast to organise their own committee to improve conditions in the women's poorhouse.

In 1840 Elizabeth Fry opened a training school for nurses in Guy's Hospital known as 'The Institution of Nursing Sisters'.

Elizabeth Fry's programme inspired Florence Nightingale, who took a team of Fry's nurses to assist wounded soldiers in the Crimean War.

Elizabeth Fry died from a stroke in Ramsgate, England, on 12 October 1845.

Elizabeth Fry's remains were buried in the Friends' burial ground at Barking.

Lord Ashley, amongst a group of prominent reformers and admirers of Elizabeth Fry, including the Bishop of Norwich and the diplomat Christian von Bunsen, promoting adoption of a charitable scheme to honour Elizabeth Fry, told the meeting that founding an asylum would be in "perfect harmony with her life, her character, her feelings".

The building and Elizabeth Fry are commemorated by a plaque at the entrance gateway.

Elizabeth Fry is depicted in stained glass at All Saints' Church, Cambridge alongside Edith Cavell and Josephine Butler.

Elizabeth Fry is commemorated in prisons and courthouses, including a terracotta bust in the gatehouse of HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs and a stone statue in the Old Bailey.

Elizabeth Fry is commemorated in a number of educational and care-based settings.

Elizabeth Fry is depicted in the Quaker Tapestry, on panels E5 and E6.

Elizabeth Fry was shown reading to prisoners at Newgate Prison.

Elizabeth Fry was one of the social reformers honoured on an issue of UK commemorative stamps in 1976.