Elizabeth Fry: an All Round Georgian/Victorian Good Egg

Not content with just trying to help prisoners, Elizabeth was also disturbed by the number of homeless in London.  Having seen the body of a young boy frozen to death during the winter of 1819/1820, she decided it would be a good idea to set up a night shelter which ultimately led to the setting up of a committee of ladies who helped to find employment for those homeless people.

By some good fortune, Elizabeth didn’t have to wait too long before she found an ally for her penal reform works.  In 1822 Lord Sidmouth was succeeded by Robert Peel as the Home Secretary and he was totally sympathetic to Elizabeth’s pleas, as a result of which he began introducing a series of reforms.  Prisoners were allowed regular visits from prison chaplains; gaolers who had up until that time taken fees from prisoners and therefore treated the wealthier ones far better than those who were less financially well off, were paid a wage; and women prisoners were overseen by women warders rather than men and so were less at risk of abuse.

Elizabeth, pleased with the results she’d achieved so far in her 40 odd years then put some energy into reforming debtors’ prisons and, together with her brother Joseph, set upon a tour of British prisons to persuade the Government to do more and, following the tour, she prepared a report entitled ‘Prisons in Scotland and the North of England’.  By that time, Elizabeth had gained considerable notoriety and found herself a woman in an extraordinary position for that era – she was being consulted by men for her professional knowledge.

In 1824 Elizabeth took a holiday in Brighton and whilst there, was appalled at the number of beggars on the streets so she then turned her attention to those poor unfortunates.  She discovered there was considerable poverty in the town and managed to set up a team of voluntary workers who visited the poor in their homes to provide help and advice.  It was such a success there that very soon District Visiting Societies were set up throughout Great Britain.

Unfortunately though, many of Elizabeth’s good works were stemmed for a while by the bankruptcy of her husband’s business in 1828.  Previous sponsors withdrew their aid as they felt that any money donated may go towards clearing her husband’s debts.  However, Elizabeth’s brother Joseph actually took over Fry’s business interests and arranged for debtors to be paid and, at the same time, arranged for Elizabeth to receive £1,600 a year, a not inconsiderable sum for that time, and this enabled her to continue with her works. 

Following her success with helping prisoners, the poor and the homeless she turned her attention to reforming mental asylums, workhouses and hospitals.

Her main concern with hospitals was that the standard of nursing wasn’t good.  Nurses didn’t have sufficient skills to deal with the number of patients and the diversity of diseases and illnesses.  So in 1840 she formed a training school for nurses in Guy’s Hospital.  The nurses wore uniforms and were expected to tend to the patients’ spiritual as well as physical needs.  This was so successful that Florence Nightingale wrote to Elizabeth commending her and Elizabeth influenced her to such a degree that Florence took a team of Elizabeth’s trained nurses with her when she went out to the Crimea.  Even Queen Victoria was highly impressed with Elizabeth’s good works and took a huge interest in developments.

Having filled her life with putting others before herself – whether family or the poor and needy – Elizabeth died on 12 October 1945 at the age of 65 and was buried in the Society of Friends graveyard in Barking (London).