Autograph Letter Signed ("Elizabeth Fry") to "Dear friend",

3 1/2 pages 8vo, Plashet House [East Ham, London], [Saturday] 8 December 1821

Elizabeth Fry shows true Christian spirit and sympathy when writing to a "Dear friend" about the recent illness of his child - "I truly sympathise with thyself & thy dear wife in the illness of your little boy, to tender parents such sorrows are great" - and writes of her plans to visit Brixton Prison the following week: "I still propose being at Brixton house of Correction on 4th day [Wednesday] I suppose I may have admission. My brother Hoare [husband of Fry's sister, Louisa Gurney Hoare] is likely to accompany me ... by lodging one more night from home [may] be there on 5th day [Thursday] instead of 4th [Wednesday] if thy dear little boy should then be better therefore if thou would be so kind to send me a line to my son Francis Cresswell's Dartmouth Row, Blackheath I should probably receive it there on the 11th instant ..."

Her "son Francis Cresswell" was the son of Fry's daughter Rachel Fry (1803-1888). They had married in August 1821, some three months prior to this letter.

A note on the date usage in this letter: Quakers objected to the use of the names of pagan gods for months (January to August) and days of the week (Saturday to Sunday),and substituted numbers instead. This is visible here: instead of December Fry writes 12th Month, and instead of Wednesday and Thursday she writes 4th and 5th day instead.

Fry was a noted philanthropist and prison reformer who fought tirelessly, particularly on the behalf of female prisoners, since first encountering the inhumane conditions of Newgate Prison in 1813. This letter is written the same year that Fry founded the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners, which was the first such national organisation for women.

Near fine.

Stock Code: 228826