Fry, Elizabeth
Fry, Elizabeth (1780–1845). Reformer. Elizabeth Fry was born into the quaker family of Gurney, bankers of Norwich, and brought up at Earlham Hall. At the age of 20 she married another quaker banker, Joseph Fry, and went on to raise a large family. In 1807 her sister Hannah married Thomas Fowell Buxton, also of quaker ancestry, and keenly interested in prison reform. Elizabeth Fry began visiting Newgate and in 1817 founded an association to help the female prisoners. In 1818 she gave evidence to a parliamentary committee, insisting on the importance of useful work for prisoners. She became greatly concerned for the plight of women convicts transported to Australia and between 1818 and 1843 is said to have visited more than 100 convict ships. By the 1820s she had acquired an international reputation and the patronage of royalty, though her husband's bankruptcy in 1828 forced her to curtail her activities. In 1842 she was visited by Frederick William IV of Prussia while he was in England.
J. A. Cannon
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Fry, Elizabeth