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Friends United
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May/June 2008
Elizabeth
Gurney Fry:
Quaker Prison Reformer
By Kendra Chambers
Over a century after the time that George Fox climbed Pendle Hill and experienced a vision of “a great people to be gathered,” a girl named Elizabeth Gurney was born into a prominent Quaker family in Norwich, England. The exact date of her birth was May 21, 1780. Both her mother and father’s families were members of the Society of Friends and, although they themselves were blessed with the good fortune of quality education and successful jobs, they were a family dedicated to the needs of the poor and oppressed.
Elizabeth was the third of twelve children born to John and Catherine Gurney. When she was about six years old her parents moved to a beautiful estate named Earlham Hall, which became one of the most well-known Quaker homes in England. John was thriving in the world of banking and business, but he also had a caring heart and stayed involved in many charitable activities. Apparently Elizabeth inherited her parents’ need to show kindness towards the less fortunate. Her mother, Catherine, was a member of the Barclay banking family, but she died shortly after giving birth to her twelfth child. Elizabeth was just twelve years old. Her death caused almost unbearable heartache for the family, and Elizabeth took on many motherly duties at this time since she was one of the oldest children. Fortunately, before Catherine died, she had insisted that girls as well as boys receive a well-rounded education. Elizabeth received the basics of most major academic subjects from her mother which prepared her well to do whatever she wanted with her life.
As a young woman, Elizabeth struggled to live a simple life in the midst of her family’s prosperity. The entire Gurney family was a bit untraditional when it came to the Quaker beliefs about clothing. They stood out amongst other Friends when they dressed in bright, fashionable clothing. Elizabeth was not a serious youth; she sometimes made excuses in order to avoid going to worship. However, Elizabeth experienced a religious awakening at the age of seventeen when she had the opportunity to hear William Savery, a fairly wealthy Quaker minister from Philadelphia, speak. His message that day had a salient impact on her and it answered many of her questions regarding the meaning of life. After hearing him speak she became more in tune with the moral values of the Quaker faith. She also immersed herself in biblical readings day after day. She began visiting the sick and teaching poor children. At this point in her life it appears that Elizabeth did a great deal of spiritual maturing.
When she was 19 years old Elizabeth met Joseph Fry, who also came from a wealthy Quaker family. Although he was very well off, he lived a less worldly life than many of his stature. Perhaps he was a good influence on Elizabeth in this way. They were married the following year in a Quaker meetinghouse on Sunday, August 19, 1800.
Elizabeth’s life grew busy as she became a mother, housewife and an avid Christian reformer. Her Quaker conscience made her feel the sufferings of prisoners much like Woolman felt the sufferings of slaves. After her children reached an age where she could afford to spend some time away from the house, she traveled widely in the ministry. She accompanied her brother Joseph John on a speaking tour through Holland, Germany and Denmark in the summer of 1814. Their three main missions of the trip were first, to preach, second, to raise awareness about the poor conditions of prisons and third, to press the limitation of the slave trade and the abolition of colonial slavery. Their voyage helped bring about some promising changes in society.
Elizabeth is most well-known for her dedication to better living in the Newgate Prison in London. Her first visit to this prison was in 1813. This was another key moment in her life, in which a visiting Quaker from America named Stephen Grellet came to her and asked for her assistance in improving the conditions at Newgate. When she visited for the first time, Elizabeth was appalled at the way the women were living at this prison, and she immediately went to work doing little things to make it better for them. Without delay, she enlisted other Quaker women to help make clothing for the infants who were forced to join their mothers in the prison. She continued to visit the prison even in the midst of many warnings about the physical danger she was putting herself in, that the prisoners were wild and savage. Although some of their behavior and language was eye-opening to Elizabeth who had grown up in an upper-class Christian home, it did not stop her from doing what she felt called to do. There were obviously some cultural barriers to overcome, but Elizabeth knew what needed to be done and she found several other women who were brave enough to face the challenge as well.
Despite the skepticism of the prison authorities who believed the incarcerated women to be hopeless, Elizabeth formed a committee of Quaker volunteers to visit them and help make improvements. She called it the Association of the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. Their visits included an emphasis on Bible readings as well as bringing the women clothing and fabric supplies so they could sew their own things together and earn money then by selling their creations. Elizabeth also convinced the authorities to grant the women more living space, and organize them according to age and seriousness of offense. Before this, prisoners of all ages and levels of crime were thrown together into tiny cells.
Another situation Elizabeth set out to change was the lack of opportunity for education. Many children who were staying in the prison with their mothers were receiving no learning stimulation at all, and Elizabeth realized this could lead to many problems in their future which would likely put them right back into similar situations. She had to convince the governor of the prison to allow her to start a school for the children. Although he tried to make excuses about not enough space, the women found an unused cell that they agreed would work perfectly. The first teacher of the school was Mary O’Connor, a former school teacher who had been put in prison for stealing a watch. The school proved to be a success, and even many of the women at the prison gathered around the doorway to learn how to read and write alongside the children.
A few of Elizabeth’s other contributions to humanity included better treatment of the insane, a greater degree of humanity in the process of transporting women prisoners from one prison to another and kinder treatment in general to all prisoners, male and female. No more than five years after her first visit to Newgate, Elizabeth had expanded beyond London, working to reform other prisons throughout England.
Of course, like most well-known activists, Elizabeth received plenty of criticism, even from within the Society of Friends. Some said she did a poor job of raising her eleven children and that she neglected her motherly duties. She knew well the stress of trying to balance the role of wife and mother, and in her time away from the home her children were cared for lovingly by many of her Fry and Gurney relatives. She also faced disapproval among many government officials. Her persistence angered them, and she was even once accused of working towards taking away the dread of punishment. Although she realized people must face consequences for their actions, she did not see the “dread of punishment” as the best way to dissuade people from crime. She believed prevention was more important. Elizabeth felt that building self-esteem and meeting basic material needs were crucial so that an individual could then develop the skills necessary to integrate back into society.
Elizabeth continued working until her death in 1845, and despite some criticism, she died a well-known and well-respected Quaker reformer. Elizabeth had her fill of ups and downs. Out of honor, she received visits from kings and queens and other famous people. But she also experienced the humiliation of her husband’s bankruptcy and their Quaker meeting removing their membership because of it. Through all hardships, she never lost her drive to better the conditions of those less fortunate. She knew that change could begin only when the accused person began to be treated as a human being, and the changes she made gave women in prison the beginnings of a sense of self-respect. At her burial service, more than one thousand people stood in silence to show respect to this great woman.
Kendra Chambers is a senior psychology major at Friends University, Wichita, Kansas. At Friends University, Kendra has run varsity track and cross-country while balancing her studies and other involvements with campus ministries. Kendra earned the academic All-American status her junior and senior years. In her unscheduled time she volunteers in the children’s department at University Friends Meeting, where she is an active member and where her grandfather, JM Pitts, a retired Friends’ pastor, once served on the ministry team.