Letter from Elizabeth Fry to James Elmes, August 13th, 1817

By: Hong Hai Nguyen (Ivi)

Introduction

Elizabeth Fry’s letter, dated “13th 8th month 1817”, is addressed to James Elmes. In the letter, she expresses her regards for Elmes’s “works upon prisons”. Elmes is an English architect who designed prisons to be more humane, while Elizabeth Fry is an English prison reformer who promotes the idea of rehabilitation instead of harsh punishment toward women and children in prison. They both have contributed their works to the Newgate prison in London.

Description

The letter uses red sealing wax, which is visible on the left and under the recipient’s address page. It appears that the letter is folded twice to create an envelope. There is a red stamp and a blue stamp saying "Paid", which suggests that Fry uses postal service to deliver her letter instead of hand-delivering, although both parties were in London (the letter was sent from Plashet House, London to Kentish Town, London). The hand is neat, not too large and bold, written in durable and black ink on plain white paper. 

Notable features

There are no grammar or spelling errors in the letter. However, instead of August, Fry writes “8th month”, because she is a Quaker and the Quakers objecst to the use of the names of pagan gods for months (January to August), days of the week (Saturday to Sunday) and substitutes numbers instead.

Analysis

The letter does not open with “Sir” or “Dear Sir”, which indicates a less formal convention or a public matter. Also, Fry writes her letter in the third person, the content is short that left a lot of white space, which would be fit for publication if it ever is needed. In this case, Fry and Elmes are strangers. The letter is a thanking note from her to him.

According to The History of Elizabeth Fry Charity, in April 1817, Elizabeth Fry created the Association for the Improvement of Female Prisoners in Newgate. This association provided materials for women so that they could learn to sew patchwork, needlework and knitting which could offer employment when they were out of prison and then could earn money for themselves. Fry attempts to set up a school within the Newgate prison for the younger children while Elmes has put his effort into designing alterations to the condition of Newgate Prison. Further, he published Hints for the Improvement of Prisons in 1817. In his book, he especially cares about education and employment for prisoners which he states "the cells being well calculated for study and employment, as well as living." (Elmes, 15-16) Thus, his "works upon prisons" that Elizabeth thank him for in her letter is not only his architect work but maybe, his publication. She also hopes that her work can "profit" his.