When Elizabeth Fry first visited Newgate Prison in 1813, she found around 300 women and their children crammed together, sleeping on straw. She came back and set up a school for the children, then organised sewing and knitting so the women could earn money. She campaigned for women prisoners to be guarded by women and for better conditions on convict ships to Australia. A mother of eleven, in 1818 she became the first woman to give evidence to a Parliamentary committee.
Elizabeth Fry
Prison Reformer
EXTRA-ORDINARY TRAIT
EMPATHY
JFDI PILLAR
J — JUDGMENT
COUNTRY & REGION
England (UK & Ireland)
LIFESPAN
1780 – 1845
GENDER
Woman
EDITION
No.011
✦ DEFINING MOMENT
Inside Newgate Prison, reading to women prisoners and their children, 1817.
✦ ARCHIVAL DOSSIER
The Story
✦ DID YOU KNOW?
She appeared on the Bank of England £5 note from 2002 to 2016.
✦ YOUR TURN
Who's being overlooked near you who just needs someone to turn up?
COLLECTIBLE EDITIONS
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