Person:Elizabeth Gurney (3)

Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the treatment of prisoners, especially female inmates, and as such has been called the "Angel of Prisons". She was instrumental in the 1823 Gaols Act which mandated sex-segregation of prisons and female warders for female inmates to protect them from sexual exploitation. Fry kept extensive diaries in which the need to protect female prisoners from rape and sexual exploitation is explicit.

She was supported in her efforts by Queen Victoria and by Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I of Russia and was in correspondence with both, their wives and the Empress Mother. In commemoration of her achievements she was depicted on the Bank of England £5 note, in circulation between 2002 and 2016.

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Biographical sources

Source:Lewis, Georgina King. Elizabeth Fry

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References