#15031, Elizabeth (Betsy) GURNEY

Born just under 250 years ago Elizabeth Fry née Gurney was one of the most influential and enigmatic women in English history. Mother of eleven children and a Quaker minister she drew the world's attention to the plight of women in prison, instituted an order of nursing sisters and became the figurehead of much of the philanthropic endeavour in the first half of the nineteenth century.

'The genius of good', as the Marquess of Lansdowne described Betsy Fry in Parliament, became a living legend, a symbol of saintliness and virtue. The public's awe and admiration is reflected in the titles of early biographies and tracts about her: 'Illustrious Woman', 'Woman of Worth', 'Angel of the Prisons'. At the height of her fame and popularity, to see Mrs. Fry reading to the prisoners of Newgate was considered 'one of the sights of London'.

But during her lifetime this remarkable woman aroused hostility as well as admiration. Quakers found her 'worldliness' disquieting; not all of her fellow penal reformers approved of her unorthodox ways and the 'irregular authority' conferred upon her and her lady prison visitors; her family felt neglected.

Elizabeth Fry herself was tortured throughout her life by self-doubt and anxiety, torn between the opposing demands of her family, her religion and her public, disturbed by her own attraction to 'the high life'. Despite this Elizabeth Fry was without doubt a 'modern' personality and an early precursor of the feminist movement.

December 2022