21/12/2001
Elizabeth Fry

Elizabeth Fry - later renowned as the 'angel of the prisons' - was born in England in 1780. She was the third of 12 children born to John and Catherine Guerney, he a successful manufacturer and she a relation to the Barclay banking family. Both parents came from Quaker families - a tradition that would later prove a profound influence on their daughter's life.

The young Elizabeth enjoyed an unorthodox education for her time. Believing that girls as well as boys should be educated, her mother insisted that she should study the major academic subjects as well as accompanying her on visits to the sick and needy. This progressive attitude was an inspiration and the young girl was devastated when, at the age of 12, her mother died.

At the age of 18, Elizabeth underwent a spiritual transformation and became a devout Quaker. She started a Sunday school for children in the family home and in 1800 married Joseph Fry a shy but equally orthodox Quaker from a prosperous merchant family. Her first child was born the following year. Eleven others would follow over the next twenty years, in which time she was also acknowledged as a Quaker minister.

Already recognised as a compassionate advocate for those in need, the minister was asked in 1812 to visit London's Newgate prison for women. Despite her familiarity with poverty and neglect, she was horrified by the conditions of filth and degradation that she saw. The death of her second daughter, and the birth of two more children, however delayed her further involvement. In 1816 she visited the prison again. On finding no improvement to the appalling conditions of four years ago, she began what was to become a lifelong commitment to penal welfare and reform.

Her initial efforts focused on procuring the basic food, clothing and medicine that was frequently lacking for the prisoners and their children. She then turned to education, ministering to the prisoners and establishing a small school. Recognising that occupation was essential to self-esteem and dignity, she convinced the wardens that the school should be run by the prisoners themselves. She also provided materials allowing the women to sew, knit and make goods for sale, in order to buy food, clothing and fresh straw for bedding. In 1817 she enlisted the help of ten friends to form the Ladies' Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate - an association devoted to the pursuit of humanity and justice.

Contemporaries were deeply impressed by the changes brought about in Newgate, so much so that Elizabeth Fry became a national figure. She was invited to visit other prisons to suggest measures for improvement and wherever possible, she established ladies' committees for visiting female prisoners. The association she had formed in 1817 soon expanded into a national network - the first nationwide women's organisation in Britain. She was also asked to give evidence on prison reform before a Committee of the House of Commons - setting another precedent as the first woman to do so. She urged compassion in the treatment of prisoners as well as entire separation of the sexes in prison, classification of offenders, female supervision of women prisoners, and the opportunity for useful employment. In 1827, she published her ideas in a book. As well as laying out the need for prison reform, she raised broader concerns including a call for more opportunities for women and a strong condemnation of the death penalty.

Elizabeth Fry's philosophy that prisons should be 'schools of industry and virtue' was profoundly influential. She travelled throughout the UK and Europe to meet politicians and fellow reformers. In each case she pleaded for more humanitarian treatment of prisoners and other vulnerable groups and several of her ideas became encoded in the laws of England and other countries. By the time of her death in 1845, she had become a leading influence on prison reform and rehabilitation.

Despite this responsibility, Elizabeth Fry did not limit her work to penal reform. She set up District Visiting Societies to work with the poor, libraries for coastguards and a training school for nurses. When a small boy was found frozen to death near her home, she set up another Ladies Committee to offer hot soup and a bed to homeless women and children. She also campaigned for the reform of lunatic asylums and for the abolition of slavery.

Elizabeth Fry died at the age of 65, having become a symbol of compassion and justice throughout Europe. Her achievements will be further recognised when shortly her portrait takes the place of that of George Stephenson on a new series of £5 notes to be issued in the UK.