Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Quaker philanthropist. She has been called the "angel of prisons". Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to make the treatment of prisoners more humane, especially those of female inmates, with the disadvantages faced by all prisoners compounded by female vulnerability disadvantage in relation to both male prisoners and warders. She was instrumental in the 1823 Gaols Act which mandated i) sex-segregation of prisons and ii) female warders for female inmates to protect them from sexual exploitation. As most Quakers since the foundation of Quakerism from 1650's, Fry kept extensive diaries (London 1847) 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 both Emperor Alexander I and Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and was in correspondence with both of the Imperial brothers, their wives and the Empress Mother as documented in her own journal and that of other contemporary Quakers. Journals of Stephen Grellet & William Allen She was depicted on the Bank of England £5 note, in circulation 2002-2016 and along with the female prisoners at Newgate, who benefited from her care and the campaigning work she did including giving evidence in Parliament. She worked tirelessly to ameliorate prison conditions, including the end-to-end care of women and girls deported to Botany Bay.

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