was the daughter of John Gurney, a rich banker near Korwich, and a member of the Societj^ of Friends. She -was born May 21, 1780, at Bramerton. " The benev- olence of her disposition disphiyed itself by her habit, ■while yet a girl, of visiting the poor on her father's property, and forming a school for the education of tlicir ciiildrcn. Under the teaching of William Sav- er\-, an American Friend, she was brought to the knowl- edge and love of the truth. Her character from that day was entirely changed, and she became a genuine and consistent Christian. In 1800 she was married to Joseph Fr}', Esq., of London, and consefpiently settled in the metropolis. There she resumed her early haliit of visiting the poor ; and although she became the mother of a large family, who were most tenderly loved and assiduously trained, she j'et found leisure, l)}- a rigid economy of time and arrangement of do- mestic duties, to render hor beneficent offices to her ])0or and suffering fellow-creatures. In 1810 she be- came a preacher among the Friends. Everj^ day was she found visiting charitj'-schools, in the houses and lanes of the poor, and in the wards of sick hospitals, till at length, by a providential train of circumstances, she was led to extend her benevolent attentions to the inmates of a prison and a lunatic asj'luni (1813). The accents of Christian love found entrance into the hearts of those wretched outcasts, and she became the hon- ored instrument of remodeling tlie discipline and im- proving the state of our national prisons. At the com- mencement of her career there was no classification of any sort, no separation between male and female pris- oners ; all criminals, parents and children, men and women, those who were comparatively innocent with the inveterate!}' depraved, were indiscriminateh'^ hud- dled together, and in these circumstances many left the prison far more familiar Avith crime than when they entered it. It required no small resolution and faith to enter such a den of iniquity as a British jail at that peridd was, but Mrs. Fry attempted it and was successful. Her dignity, and at the same time her feminine gentleness, subdued their ferocity and won their attention. She told them that vice was the cause of all their misery ; that if they would return to virtu- ous habits they might again be happy, and she pro- posed rules for their observance, of which they unani- mously expressed their approval. Eepeating her visit after a brief interval, and finding them eqnall}' tracta- ble and submissive, she proceeded with her contem- plated measures. She appointed a teacher to those children who had been committed for pettj' offences, and many of whom were under seven years of age. Even their profligate mothers took an interest in this infant school. Mrs. Frv next devised some emploj'- ment for the women, by teaching them to .-ew, and supplying them with work. For the accomplishment of this arduous imdertaking she formed a ladies' com- mittee (1817), some of whom made it a sacred duty to attend in tlie prison daily, so that there was not a mo- ment wlien the females were not under tlie superin- tendence of some proper and efficient guide. A ma- tron was at length appointed to live in the prison, and take the oversight of the female prisoners. But the ladies' committee still continued their attendance, one giving instruction in needlework, another in knitting, while a third read some good religious book, and spoke to them aliout the guilt and the wages of sin, the duty and superior happiness of a sol)er, chaste, and religious life. In a few weeks the most astonishing moral rev- olution was effected within the walls of the prison ; not only the language of blasphemy, obscenity, aud fiendish discord entirely disajipeared, but women of the most abandoned characters were reclaimed to es- tablished hal)its of sobriety, industry, and piety. Tlie public interest was greatly excited by the intelligence. Visitors of the highest officia^ station and, noble rank visited the schools, and the most undoulited testimo- nies were borne to the excellent principles and effi-
cient working of these benevolent schemes. Mrs. Fry, while she continued her inspection of the prisons, ex- tended her benevolent regards to other classes, such as making provision for female convicts both during their voyage out and at their allotted stations. She also visited all the principal jails in Scotland and Ire- land, France, Holland, Denmark, and Prussia, and her last scheme of philanthropy was begun with a view to benefit British seamen, particularly to alleviate the miserable state of the coast guard; forming libraries and adopting means for circulating books and tracts in men-of-war ships. These anxious and multifarious labors made serious inroads on the health of this ex- cellent lady. After trj'ing the waters of Bath in the spring of 1845, she returned home no way improved, and graduallj- sank till she expired at Eamsgate, Oc- tober 11. Her death was lamented throughout Europe as a loss to humanity. She was, as she has often been called, 'the female Howard,' and, like her prototype, her benevolent exertions were the fruit of a livelj' and established faith in the Gospel of Christ."- — Rich, Cy- clopcedia of Biography ; Memoirs of Elizaheth Fry, by her daughters (London, 1818, 2 vols. ; New York, 1850, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Corder, Life of Mrs. Fry (London, 1853) ; Mefhodist Quart. Review, April, 1851, art. iii ; North Brit. Rev. ix, 136; Princeton Review, xx, 31.