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| Elizabeth Fry |
‘Punishment is not for revenge, but to
lessen crime and reform the criminal.’
Born in Norfolk in 1780 to a family of
Quakers, Elizabeth Fry (née
Gurney), was an English humanitarian and prison reformer.
Elizabeth
was just twelve years old when her mother sadly died, and she was required to
care for her younger siblings. By the
age of eighteen, she had developed a keen interest in the poor and sick, even
starting up her own Sunday school within the family home.
At
the age of twenty, Elizabeth Gurney married Joseph Fry with whom she had eleven
children. Many people would later accuse
her of neglecting her domestic duties in order to pursue her other causes.
A
trip to Newgate Prison in London left her so horrified by the conditions that
she was determined to encourage changes.
The women’s section was extremely over-crowded with the women being
forced to sleep on straw, as well as cooking and washing inside their tiny
cell. Elizabeth encouraged members of
the nobility to visit the prison to see the conditions for themselves. She herself helped to provide food and
clothing for them. Her acts of kindness
meant that Elizabeth soon gained the friendship and respect of the prisoners,
who soon made steps to help themselves to improve the conditions they were
forced to endure. Elizabeth eventually
managed to found a school to help educate the children that had been imprisoned
with their parents.
In
1817, Elizabeth Fry founded the Association for the Reformation of the Female
Prisoners in Newgate. This later led to
the creation of the British ladies’ Society for Promoting the Reformation of
Female Prisoners. She was one of the
first people to recognise that prisons should be a place for reformation not
just punishment. Elizabeth also became
the first woman to give evidence to the House of Commons in 1818, when she put
forward her evidence of the conditions of British Prisons. Robert Peel was a keen admirer of her work,
even helping to pass the Goals Act 1823, which was unfortunately unsuccessful
due to the lack of inspectors needed to ensure that the work was carried out. She also made regular visits to the convict
ships that left England for Botany Bay.
During
the winter of 1819/20, Elizabeth Fry helped to establish a ‘nightly shelter’ in
London to help the homeless after seeing the body of a young boy, who had
frozen to death on the streets. Then in
1824, she instituted the Brighton District Visiting Society. Volunteers for the society made visits to the
poor to provide them with help and comfort in their homes. The plan was later duplicated in other
districts across Britain.
In
1840, Elizabeth opened a training school for nurses, becoming an inspiration
for Florence Nightingale, who later used some of her nurses during her work in
the Crimean War. Elizabeth was a big
supporter for vaccinations and was herself trained in administering them.
Elizabeth
Fry was well known in society and had many admirers of her work, including
Queen Victoria herself who made many contributions to her work. She died from a stroke in 1845, and was
buried in the Friends Burial Ground at Barking, London.
After
her death, a meeting of people headed by the Lord Mayor of London, decided that
an asylum should be opened in order to commemorate her life’s work. The Elizabeth Fry Refuge was opened in Hackney
in 1849. It was funded by subscriptions
from various businesses and individuals, as well as the income generated by the
inmates through laundry and needlework. Later
also becoming a hostel for girls on probation for more minor offences. After several more moves and mergers with
other establishments, the refuge finally settled in Reading in 1958 where it
still remains.
Since
2001, the image of Elizabeth Fry has appeared on the back of the £5 (UK) note
as a tribute to her work as a prison reformer.
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