Elizabeth fry essay

Fry published her book in 1825. She wrote Observations of the Siting Superintendence and Government of Female Prisoners to raise awareness about females in prison. Her work in the prison system often left her family with little money.

Writing in 1813, she wrote: “All I tell thee is a faint picture of reality; the filth, the closeness of the rooms, the furious manner and expressions of the women towards each other, and the abandoned wickedness, which everything bespoke are really indescribable.” She even spent the night in prison to get a better idea of what conditions were like.

By 1821, a number of women's reform groups came together as the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners. In 1822, Elizabeth Fry gave birth to her eleventh child. In 1823, prison reform legislation was finally introduced in Parliament.

Thus, as a young adult, Fry became acquainted with liberal and reform ideas, such as the works of Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft as well as her own Quaker religion. When Elizabeth was 18, she was influenced by the humanitarian message of William Savery, an American Quaker who spoke of the importance of tackling poverty and injustice.