Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry

Eminent WOmen Series EDITED BY JOHN H. I~GRAM ELIZABETH FRY ELIZABETH FRY BY MRS. E. R. PITMAN • LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, S. W. 1884. " . "- . - LONDON PBlNTBD BY W. H. ALLEN AND 00., 18 WATBBLOO PLAOH, H.W. I INTRODUCTION. • DOUBTLESS Mrs. Fry considered that she was called to perform a peculiar work. The days of " Woman's Mission" had not dawned then, and the vagaries, mild or otherwise, of later times had never been heard of. Any woman who moved very perceptibly out of the ordinary ways of life laid herself open to miscon struction, accusation of Phariseeism, and to more or less contempt; but the bent of Elizabeth Fry's mind lay in the direction of prison-reform, and from the day that she first visited a Bridewell down to that when she last, in trembling tones, exhorted her fellow workers to persevere in the good work to which they had set their hands, she never for one moment lost sight of her ideal, nor swerved from her purpose. She brought to her work a heart full of piety, the" charity that never faileth," and the perseverance and principle VI INTRODUCTION. which give steadfast adherence to duty. She believed in all, and despaired of none. In everyone, no matter how debased, she saw the spark of Divinity, which, however overlaid with sin, vice, or ignorance, is never wholly extinct j and, working on that little element of good, she reclaimed hundreds who had been till then looked upon as hopeless and lost. Few have trodden in her steps, probably because her work was so arduous -probably, also, because to many it would be too repulsive. Thus it comes to pass that she occupies to-day a niche in the temple of Fame unique among prison-reformers of her own sex. E. R. PITMAN. CONTENTS. = = PAGB CHAPTER I.-LIFE AT EARLHAM A HUNDRED YEARS AGO • 1 CHAPTER n.-LIFE'S EARNEST PuRPOSE 9 CHAPTER IIT.-ST. MILDRED'S COURT 17 CHAPTER IV.-A COUNTRY HOME 22 CHAPTER V.-BEGINNINGS IN NEWGATE 29 CHAPTER VI.-NEWGATE HORRORS AND NEW- GATE VVORKERS 39 CHAPTER VII.-EvIDENCE BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 57 CHAPTER vrn.-THE GALLOWS AND ENGLISH LA:WS 73 CHAPTER IX.-CONVICT Smps AND CONVICT 'SETTLEMENTS 84 CHAPTER X.-VISITS TO CONTINENTAL PRISONS 98 CHAPTER XI.-NEW THEORIES OJ' PRISON DIS- CIPLINE AND MANAGEMENT . , Ilo ... Vlll CONTENTS. PAGB CHAPTER xn.-MRS. FRY IN DOMESTIC AND RELIGIOUS LIFE . 139 CHA.PTER XIII.-COLLATERAL GoOD WORKS 164 CHAPTER XIV.-ExPANSION OF THE PRISON ENTERPRISE-HONOURS 177 CHAPTER XV.-CLOSING DAYS OF LIFE 196 CHAPTER XVI.-FINIB 205 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. Life of Elizabeth Fry. Edited by Two of her Daughters. ............ 1847. Elizabeth Fry. Women of Christianity. By Julia Kavanagh. .......... 1852. Elizabeth Fry. Gems of Womanhood. By Samuel Mossman. ............ 1870. Elizabeth Fry. By the Rev. T. Timpson. ... 1846. Life of Joseph John Gurney. By J. Bevan Braith. waite .......... 1854. Thoughts on Prison Discipline. By Elizabeth Fry 1827. Observations on the Visiting, &c. of Female Prisoners. By Elizabeth Fry ...... 1827. George Cruikshank. By Walter Hamilton ... 1878. Life of John Howard. By Hepworth Dizon. .. 1850. Captain Maconochie. Our Exemplars. By M. D. Hill .......... 1861. Five Years' Penal Servitude. ... 1877. In Prison and Out. By Hesba Stretton 1880. ELIZABETH FR Y. CHAPTER 1. LIFE AT EARLHAM, A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. A HUNDRED years ago, Norwich was a remarkable centre of religious, social, and intellectual life. The presence of officers, quartered with their troops in the city, and the balls and festivities which attended the occasional sojourn of Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, combined to make the quaint old city very gay; while the pronounced element of Quakerism and the refining influences of literary society permeated the generation of that day, and its ordinary life, to an extent not easily conceived in these days of busy loco motion and new-world travel. Around the institutions of the established Church had grown up a people loyal to it, for, as an old cathedral city, the charm of antiquity attached itself to Norwich; while Mrs. Opie and others known to literature, exercised an attraction and stimulus in their circles, ·consequent 1 2 ELIZABETH FRY. upon the p,ossession of high intellectual powers and good social position. It was in the midst of such 'Surroundings, and with a mind formed by such in fluences, that Elizabeth Fry, the prison philanthropist and Quaker, grew up to young womanhood. She was descended from Friends by both parents: her father's family had been followers of the tenets of George Fox for more than a hundred years; while her mother was grand-daughter of Robert Barclay, the author of the Apology for the People called Quakers. It might be supposed that a daughter of Quaker families would have been trained in the strictest adherence to their tenets; but it seems that Mr. and Mrs. John Gurney, Elizabeth's parents, were not" plain Quakers." In other words, they were calm, intellectual, benevolent; courteous, and popular people; not so very unlike others, save that they attended «First.day meeting," but differing from their co religionists in that they abjured the strict garb and the " thee" and" thou" of those who followed George Fox to unfashionable lengths, whilst their children studied music and dancing. More zealous brethren called the Gurneys" worldly," and shook their heads over their degenerate conduct; but, all unseen, Mrs. Gurney was training up her family in ways of usefulness and true wisdom; while" the fear of the Lord," as the great principle of life and action, was constantly set before them. With such a mother to mould their infant minds and direct their childish understandings, there was not much fear of the younger Gurneys turning out otherwise than well. Those who shook their heads at the" worldliness" of the Gurneys, little dreamt of the· remarkable lives which were being moulded under the Gurney roof. LIFE AT EARLHAM. 3 One or two extracts from Mrs. Gurney's diary will afford a fair insight into her character :- If our piety does not appear adequate to supporting us in the exigencies of life, and, I may add, death, surely our hearts cannot be sufficiently devoted to it. Books of controversy on religion are seldom read with profit, not even those in favour of our own par ticular tenets. The mind stands less in need of conviction tho conversion. These reflections have led me to decide on what I most covet for my daughters, as the result of our daily pursuits. As piety is undoubtedly the shortest and securest way to all moral rectitude, young women should be virtuous and good on the broad, :firm basis of Christianity; therefore it is not the tenets of any man or sect whatever that are to be inculcated in preference to those rigid but divine truths contained in the New Testament. As it appears to be our reasonable duty to improve our faculties, and by that means to render ourselves useful, it is necessary and very agreeable to be well-informed of our own language, and the Latin as being most permanent, and the French as being the most in general request. The simple beauties of mathematics appear to be BO excellent an exercise to the understanding, that they onght on no account to be omitted, and are, perhaps, scarcely less essential than a competent knowledge of ancient and modern history, geo graphy, and chronology. To which may be added a knowledgo of the most approved branches of natural history, and a capacity of drawing from nature, in order to promote that knowledge and facilitate the pursuit of it. As a great portion of a woman's life ought to be passed in at least regulating the subordinate affairs of a family, she should work plain work herself, neatly; understand the cutting-out of linen; also she should not be ignorant of the common proprieties of a table, or deficient in the economy of any of the most minute affairs of a family. It should be here observed that gentleness of manner is indispensably necessary in women, to say nothing of that polished behaviour which adds a charm to every qualification; to both which, it appears pretty certain, children may be led without vanity or affectation by amiable and judicious instruction. These observations furnish the key-note to Mrs. Gurney's system of training, as well as indicate the strong common-sense and high principles whieh actuated her. It was small wonder that of her family 1 • 4 ELIZABETH FRY. of twelve children so many of them should rise up to "call her blessed." N either was it any wonder that Elizabeth," the dove-like Betsey" of her mother's journal, should idolise that mother with almost pas sionate devotion. Elizabeth was born on May 21st, 1780, at Norwich; but when she was a child of six years old, the Gurneys removed to Earlham Hall, a pleasant ancestral home, about two miles from the city. The family was an old one, descended from the Norman lords of Gournay en-Brai, in Normandy. These Norman lords held lands in Norfolk, in the time of William Rufus, and have had, in one line or another, representatives down to the present day. Some of them, it is recorded, resided in Somersetshire; others, the ancestors of Mrs. Fry, dwelt in Norfolk, generation after generation, perpetuating the family name and renown. One of these ancestors, John Gurney, embraced the principles of George Fox, and became one of the first members of the Society of Friends,. Thus it came to pass that Quakerism became familiar to her from early childhood -indeed, was hereditary in the family.

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