Elizabeth Fry

Elizabeth Fry

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Title: Elizabeth Fry
Author: Mrs. E. R. Pitman
Release Date: August 27, 2005 [EBook #16606]
Language: English
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+Famous Women+
ELIZABETH FRY.

_The next volumes in the Famous Women Series will be:_
THE COUNTESS OF ALBANY. By Vernon Lee. HARRIET
MARTINEAU. By Mrs. Fenwick Miller. MARY
WOLLSTONECRAFT. By Elizabeth Robins Pennell.
_Already published:_
GEORGE ELIOT. By Miss Blind. EMILY BRONTË. By Miss
Robinson. GEORGE SAND. By Miss Thomas. MARY LAMB. By
Mrs. Gilchrist. MARGARET FULLER. By Julia Ward Howe. MARIA
EDGEWORTH. By Miss Zimmern. ELIZABETH FRY. By Mrs. E.R.
Pitman.

[Illustration: Famous Women]
ELIZABETH FRY.
BY
MRS. E.R. PITMAN.
BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1884.
_Copyright, 1884,_ BY ROBERTS BROTHERS.
UNIVERSITY PRESS: JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE. LIFE AT EARLHAM, A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 1
CHAPTER II.

LIFE'S EARNEST PURPOSE. 12
CHAPTER III.
ST. MILDRED'S COURT. 23
CHAPTER IV.
A COUNTRY HOME. 29
CHAPTER V.
BEGINNINGS AT NEWGATE. 39
CHAPTER VI.
NEWGATE HORRORS AND NEWGATE WORKERS. 52
CHAPTER VII.
EVIDENCE BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 75
CHAPTER VIII.
THE GALLOWS AND ENGLISH LAWS. 97
CHAPTER IX.
CONVICT SHIPS AND CONVICT SETTLEMENTS. 112
CHAPTER X.
VISITS TO CONTINENTAL PRISONS. 131
CHAPTER XI.
NEW THEORIES OF PRISON DISCIPLINE AND MANAGEMENT.

153
CHAPTER XII.
MRS. FRY IN DOMESTIC AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 182
CHAPTER XIII.
COLLATERAL GOOD WORKS. 212
CHAPTER XIV.
EXPANSION OF THE PRISON ENTERPRISE--HONORS. 228
CHAPTER XV.
CLOSING DAYS OF LIFE. 253
CHAPTER XVI.
FINIS. 265

ELIZABETH FRY.
CHAPTER I.
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 locomotion 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 upon the possession of high intellectual powers and good
social position. It was in the midst of such surroundings, and with a
mind formed by such influences, 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 granddaughter 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.
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