The other day I came across an interesting book concerning the reform of the women’s wards at Newgate Prison as started by the Quaker reformer Elizabeth Fry and the Ladies’ Prison Association. This book led me on an interesting thread through various publications. For this post, I have excerpted from Sketch of the Origin and Results of Ladies’ Prison Associations to show the reforms that were enacted in the prison, sections concerning the women’s wards from a 1812 book describing English prisons, and then a few examples of what happened to some of the female prisoners helped by the Ladies’ Prison Association.
Picture from Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London, J. Weale, 1838
Continue reading “Ladies’ Prison Associations – Women in Newgate Prison 1812 – 1827”