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On 21st May 1780 Elizabeth Fry was born. She is famous in Britain for taking seriously the plight of many women prisoners and for bringing their situation to the public's attention. As a committed Christian within the Quaker tradition Elizabeth put her faith into action and set up schools for prisoners' children as well as small-scale co-operatives for the women to earn some money and regain their dignity. The treatment of prisoners has sadly been in the news recently and maybe Elizabeth's story can help children in your group or at a school assembly to think through how one person in this field could and did make a difference. Elizabeth Fry is also remembered in the church's calendar on 12th October.
You will need a five-pound note in an enlarged version so that it can be shown to the whole group or possibly one that can be projected onto a screen. To illustrate the story you could use a Bible, an alphabet book and a piece of patchwork quilt.
1. I wonder how famous you have to be to end up appearing on a bank note for your country? Ask the group or the children in your assembly what sort of people might be that famous? They might suggest anything from a King or Queen to a general, a famous inventor, a writer, a hero or even a politician!
I wonder what famous people you would choose to put on a new £5 or £10 note, if you had the opportunity to decide?
2. Produce a real five-pound note and then show an enlarged version to the group in some way. The person on this note is famous not because she was a politician or a soldier or famous inventor. However at one stage people did come from miles to see her; however not on a stage or on a sports field but sitting, telling Bible stories to women and children in prison.
3. Tell the story of Elizabeth Fry using the following outline:
Elizabeth came from Norfolk born into a well-to-do family. In her late teens she would have been one of those party-going, well-dressed ladies you see in period dramas on the TV!
Her family were Quakers – a Church tradition which believes in a simple form of worship and church organisation and which particularly values silence. When she was 19 she heard a visiting speaker talk about the love of God for her, shown in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. She became a keen Christian and wanted straightaway to put her faith into practise by caring for the poor of the City of Norwich. She was soon involved in visiting families and in organising 'soup runs' for those in need.
A second turning-point in her life came in 1813, when she visited Newgate Prison in London, where she found the conditions intolerable. Women in those days were often imprisoned for very petty crimes and they had to take their children with them into the cells. Elisabeth determined to do something about it.
At great risk to herself, she visited the women and made friends with them – she was a mother by now like they were – and she set up schools for the children. Her first school was in a laundry room with 30 children mostly under seven. She told them Bible stories and helped them to learn some basic reading and writing.
She also helped the women by setting up a small group to make patchwork quilts from old bits of material. They were able to sell these and earn some money to buy some soap and other basics to help survive in prison, as well as earn some vital self-respect. At one stage these patchwork quilts were sold as far away as Australia.
No one had bothered with prisoners in this way before. People then believed that they deserved such terrible conditions because it was part of their punishment. As a Christian, Elizabeth knew that God still loved these people and that they ought to be treated as human beings. She visited many prisons and even the prison ships offshore in Kent where prisoners were kept before being deported to Australia.
Through the influence of her family and her husband, she was able to push for reforms in the way prisoners were treated. Her fame spread and on one occasion she was taken to visit Queen Charlotte. She travelled widely in Europe visiting prisons and helping other countries to change attitudes towards prisoners. She was so famous towards the end of her life that the King of Prussia even included a trip to see Elizabeth as part of his state visit to Britain. The American ambassador at the time even wrote home to say that the two great sights of London in his day were St Paul's and Mrs. Fry!
This is how Elizabeth's faith made a great difference for good and she was never forgotten. She was called the angel of the prisons.
4. I wonder what difference for good you will be able to make during your lifetime? Elizabeth loved the Bible and it was particularly passages like the following that inspired what she did.
Jesus said 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, and I was in prison and you came to me.
Matthew 25: 34-36
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for in this way some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who were imprisoned, as though in prison with them; and also those who are ill-treated, because they are people just like you.
Hebrews 13: 2-3
5. With older children you might like to talk more about the purpose of putting people in prison. How can prisons be places that don't just punish offenders would also help them to reform and change. How does Elizabeth's work link with this sort of aim?
6. As children, the members of your group or school will not be able to visit prisoners but they can perhaps identify those who are ‘shut in’ in some way in your neighbourhood or community. Is there any way that your group or class could do something to help and make a difference like Elizabeth did?
7. Finish together with a prayer
Father God,
Thank-you for inspiring Elizabeth Fry to care for prisoners and their children.
We pray for all who work in our prisons.
Help people there to change and become the best they can be.
Help us like Elizabeth to make a difference for good in your world.
Amen
N.B There are many more ideas for presentations like this one in Stories of Everyday Saints by Veronica Heley.
