Fry, Elizabeth

Fry, Elizabeth (1780-1845), prison reformer, b. Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Elizabeth was the third daughter of John Gurney, a rich wool merchant and banker, who had twelve children.

The family were Quakers and Elizabeth married a Quaker, Joseph Fry, a London merchant. They had eleven children.

In 1810 Elizabeth began preaching for the Quakers. She wanted to help people and, in 1813, she visited Newgate Prison to see what she could do for the women there. She was shocked by what she saw. Three hundred women and their children were herded together in filthy conditions.

From this date onwards, she worked hard to get conditions in prisons improved, not only in England, but in other countries of Europe and she succeeded.

See Gil Skidmore Elizabeth Fry