Elizabeth (Gurney) Fry (1780 - 1845)

Born 17 May 1780 in Norwich, Norfolk, England

Ancestors

Wife of Joseph Storrs Fry — married 19 Aug 1800 in Norwich Goat Lane Friends Meeting House, Norwich, Norfolk, England

Descendants

Died 12 Oct 1845 at age 65 in Ramsgate, Kent, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Elizabeth (Gurney) Fry is Notable.

Elizabeth (Gurney) Fry was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Birth and Early Life

Elizabeth, also known by her family as Betsy,^[1] was the daughter of John Gurney and Catherine Bell.^[2] She was born in the parish of St Saviour's Norwich, Norfolk. Quaker birth records give the birth date as 17 May 1780.^[3][4] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives the birth place as Magdalen Street, Norwich;^[2] Wikipedia gives it as Gurney Court off Magdalen Street.^[5] Both give the birth date as 21 May, as does the original Dictionary of National Biography^[6]

In 1786 her father rented Earlham Hall, Norfolk, just outside Norwich, and this became their main residence.^[2] Elizabeth helped to look after and educate her younger siblings.^[7]

Elizabeth's mother died on 17 November 1792.^[8]

In her teens, Elizabeth started what was to become an extensive diary which she maintained for the rest of her life.^[9]

Conversion

Although her parents were Quakers, the family were not particularly pious. In 1798 she had a conversion experience, and the following year began to wear plain Quaker clothing and to use Quaker manners of speech.^[2][10]

Marriage and Children

On 19 August 1800 Elizabeth married Joseph Fry at Norwich Quaker Meeting House, Norfolk. Quaker marriage records describe him as a tea dealer of London, son of London, son of William Storrs Fry of Plashet (now part of East Ham), Essex and Elizabeth.^[11][12] They lived initially in London, but in 1809 they moved to Plashet, Essex.^[2] They had five sons and six daughters:^[13]

• Katharine/Katherine, born in Mildred's Court, London on 22 August 1801^[14][15]
• Rachel, born in Mildred's Court, London on 25 March 1803^[16][17]
• John Gurney, born in Mildred's Court, London on 29 July 1804^[18][19]
• William Storrs, born in Mildred's Court, London on 1 June 1806^[20][21]
• Richenda, born in Mildred's Court, London on 19 Febraury 1808^[22][23]
• Joseph, born at Plashet, East Ham, Essex on 20 September 1809^[24][25]
• Elizabeth, born in Mildred's Court, London on 20 February 1811,^[26][27] died at Plashet, East Ham, Essex on 23 November 1815 and was buried on 28 November at Barking Quaker burial ground, Essex with her age given as 4 years 9 months in the Quaker death and burial record^[28][29]
• Hannah, born at Plashet, East Ham, Essex on 12 September 1812^[30][31]
• Louisa, born at Plashet, East Ham, Essex on 14 June 1814^[32][33]
• Samuel Gurney, born at Plashet, East Ham, Essex on 18 April 1816^[34][35]
• Daniel Henry, born at Plashet, East Ham, Essex on 1 November 1822^[36][37]

Local Charitable Activity

At Plashet, Essex Elizabeth actively engaged in local charitable activity, helping impoverished Irish families and establishing a school for girls at East Ham. She promoted vaccination against smallpox.^[2]

Prison Reform

It is as a campaigner for prison reform that Elizabeth is best known. In 1813 she visited women in Newgate Prison, London, finding them overcrowded with little care or supervision. Initially, family preoccupations prevented her doing much. About December 1816 she set up a school of the women's children. Along with others, she secured the introduction at Newgate of a system of more supervision, education, and paid work, with alcohol and playing cards banned. In 1817 the Ladies' Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate was established. In 1821 it was extended nationwide as the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners.^[2]

In 1818 Elizabeth gave evidence about London prisons to a Select Committee of the House of Commons. She may well have been the first woman to give formal evidence to a parliamentary Select Committee.^[5][38]

She laboured for women prisoners to be treated with "justice and humanity", and overseen by female staff, not men. From 1818 she travelled to different parts of the United Kingdom to promote reform and to encourage the formation of committees of female prison visitors. She secured improvements in the conditions for women convicts being transported. In 1827 she published a handbook on the visiting and treatment of female prisoners.^[2]

Other Activities

Elizabeth's other activities included:^[2][5]

• preaching as a Quaker minister and distributing religious tracts
• promoting greater humanity in the care of the mentally ill
• arguing against capital punishment
• establishing a society for visiting and helping the poor in Brighton, Sussex
• establishing a Society of Nursing Sisters, an early attempt at reforming nursing and the training of nurses
• founding libraries for coastguards

Financial Difficulties

Elizabeth's husband was a banker, and his bank had been struggling intermittently since 1812. In 1828 it finally collapsed. Elizabeth and her husband were forced to sell their home at Plashet, Essex and move to a smaller house in West Ham, Essex. Her husband was disowned by the Quakers as a result of the bank failure.^[2][13] That must have been a big cause of sadness for Elizabeth, who was an active committed Quaker.

Later Years

In the 1830s Elizabeth encountered increasing resistance to her prison work. Undeterred, she visited prison reformers in continental Europe in the years 1838 to 1843 and met with those in positions of power in European countries to urge reform. On some of these visits she also sought to promote the abolition of slavery in the Dutch and Danish colonies.^[2]

In 1842 Frederick William IV of Prussia met Elizabeth at Newgate Prison, London.^[5]

Death and Will

Elizabeth died at Ramsgate, Kent on 13 October 1845, having suffered a stroke.^[2][39] She was buried on 20 October at Barking Quaker burial ground, Essex. Subsequently her and her husband's headstone was moved to the Quaker Cemetery in Bush Road, Wanstead, Essex but their remains were not transferred.^[40] At Ramsgate over a thousand people gathered and stood in silence at the time of her burial, and the local coastguards' flag was flown at half mast.^[5]

Elizabeth's will, dated 24 February 1840, was proved on 10 August 1846. In it she:^[41]

• described herself as of Upton, Essex, wife of Joseph Fry
• appointed as executors her sons John Gurney Fry, William Storrs Fry and Joseph Fry
• also named:
  • her other surviving children Katherine Fry, Daniel Henry Fry, Rachel Elizabeth Cresswell, Richenda Reynolds, Hannah Streatfield, Louisa Pelly and Samuel Gurney Fry
  • her late sister Priscilla Gurney
  • her sisters Catherine and Rachel Gurney, Richenda Cunningham, Hannah Buxton and Louisa Hoare
  • her brothers Samuel Gurney, Joseph John Gurney and Daniel Gurney

Memorials etc

There are plaques commemorating Elizabeth at places where she lived.^[42] In 2002 she was featured on a British £5 note.^[43]

Sources

1. ↑ Susanna Corder. Life of Elizabeth Fry compiled from her Journal, Henry Longstreth (Philadelphia), 1855, p. 22, Internet Archive
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Francisca de Haan for 'Fry [née Gurney], Elizabeth', print and online 2004, revised online 2017, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/10208 ($)
3. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/981, NORFOLK AND NORWICH: Monthly Meeting of Norwich: Births, FindMyPast
4. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3BM-MXL : 11 December 2014), Elizabeth Gurney, 17 May 1780, Birth; citing p. 44, Norwich, Norfolk, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4} Wikipedia:Elizabeth Fry
6. ↑ Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 20, pp. 294-296, Wikisource
7. ↑ Susanna Corder, Life of Elizabeth Fry compiled from her Journal, p. 17, Internet Archive
8. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/976, NORFOLK AND NORWICH: Monthly Meeting of Norwich: Burial notes, FindMyPast
9. ↑ The Diaries of Elizabeth Fry 1797-1845, British Library catalogue entry
10. ↑ Susanna Corder, Life of Elizabeth Fry compiled from her Journal, p. 34, Internet Archive
11. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/690, NORFOLK AND NORWICH: Monthly Meeting of Norwich: Marriages, FindMyPast
12. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7B8-J3X : 11 December 2014), Elizabeth Gurney, 19 Aug 1800, Marriage; citing p. 34, Norwich, Norfolk, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Edward H Milligan. British Quakers in Commerce and Industry 1775-1920, Sessions Book Trust, 2007, pp. 190-191
14. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/415, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Gracechurch Street, City of London: Births, FindMyPast
15. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7SH-LJ4 : 11 December 2014), Katherine Fry, 22 Aug 1801, Birth; citing p. 36, Gracechurch Street, London, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
16. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/415, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Gracechurch Street, City of London: Births, FindMyPast
17. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3TQ-DXW : 11 December 2014), Rachel Fry, 25 Mar 1803, Birth; citing p. 39, Gracechurch Street, London, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
18. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/415, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Gracechurch Street, City of London: Births, FindMyPast
19. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7GX-GMN : 11 December 2014), John Gurney Fry, 29 Jul 1804, Birth; citing p. 40, Gracechurch Street, London, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
20. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/415, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Gracechurch Street, City of London: Births, FindMyPast
21. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQJM-8QF : 11 December 2014), William Storrs Fry, 01 Jun 1806, Birth; citing p. 42, Gracechurch Street, London, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
22. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/415, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Gracechurch Street, City of London: Births, FindMyPast
23. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3CD-27P : 4 February 2023), Richenda Fry, 1808
24. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/415, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Gracechurch Street, City of London: Births, FindMyPast
25. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWXQ-ZGQ : 11 December 2014), Joseph Fry, 20 Sep 1809, Birth; citing p. 46, Gracechurch Street, London, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
26. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/415, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Gracechurch Street, City of London: Births, FindMyPast
27. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWG3-Z8G : 11 December 2014), Elizabeth Fry, 20 Feb 1811, Birth; citing p. 47, Gracechurch Street, London, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
28. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/422, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Ratcliff and Barking: Burials, FindMyPast
29. ↑ "England, Essex Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZY1-XGZQ : 24 June 2021), Elizabeth Fry, 1815
30. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/415, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Gracechurch Street, City of London: Births, FindMyPast
31. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQXM-124 : 11 December 2014), Hannah Fry, 12 Sep 1812, Birth; citing p. 48, Gracechurch Street, London, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
32. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/421, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Ratcliff and Barking: Births, FindMyPast
33. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F31Q-LYW : 11 December 2014), Louisa Fry, 14 Jun 1814, Birth; citing p. 30, Barking, Essex, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
34. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/421, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Ratcliff and Barking: Births, FindMyPast
35. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3TG-L28 : 11 December 2014), Samuel Gurney Fry, 18 Apr 1816, Birth; citing p. 31, Barking, Essex, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
36. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/421, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Ratcliff and Barking: Births, FindMyPast
37. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWDV-79R : 11 December 2014), Daniel Henry Fry, 01 Nov 1822, Birth; citing p. 38, Barking, Essex, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
38. ↑ Transcript of her evidence on Project Gutenberg, in Mrs E R Pitman, Famous Women: Elizabeth Fry, 1884, Chapter VII, Project Gutenberg
39. ↑ Norwich Chronicle and Norwich Gazette, 18 October 1845, p. 4, FIndMyPast and linked image
40. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #6952052
41. ↑ The National Archives, ref. PROB 11/2040/212, Discovery Centre catalogue entry
42. ↑ Open Plaques website, accessed 10 June 2023
43. ↑ Bank Of England Museum website, accessed 10 June 2023

See also:

• Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth Fry, 2 volumes, edited by two of her daughters; Archive.org digital images, vol 1 (1847) and vol 2 (1849)
• Wikidata: Item Q271477