Mrs Fry had started work in Newgate Prison, then justly considered to be the worst of all the bad prisons in the country.  The condition of the women and children was too dreadful to describe, and she felt that the only way to introduce law and decency into this ’hell upon earth’ was by influencing the children.

She founded a school in the prison, and it was not long before there was a marked improvement in the appearance and behaviour of both the children and the women.

The success of her work attracted public attention, and a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the condition of the London prisons.  Mrs Fry was called upon to give evidence, and she recommended several improvements, e.g. that prisoners should be given some useful work to do, that rewards should be given for good behaviour, and that female warders should be appointed.

She visited other countries in order to study foreign prison systems, and her work in the prisons led her to consider what could be done to improve the condition of the unfortunate women who were transported as convicts.  She succeeded in improving matters so much that female warders were provided on board ship, and proper accommodation and care on their arrival at their destination.

Even such a tender-hearted man and friend of the poor as Thomas Hood, author of “Song of the Shirt,” misunderstood Mrs Fry’s aims, for in a poem called “A Friendly Address to Mrs Fry,” he wrote: 

    No—­I will be your friend—­and, like a friend,
    Point out your very worst defect—­Nay, never
    Start at that word!  But I must ask you why
    You keep your school in Newgate, Mrs Fry?

    Your classes may increase, but I must grieve
    Over your pupils at their bread and waters! 
    Oh, though it cost you rent—­(and rooms run high)—­
    Keep your school out of Newgate, Mrs Fry!

In the face of domestic sorrows and misfortunes, Mrs Fry persevered until the day of her death in 1845 in working for the good of others.

The work in this direction was continued by Mary Carpenter, whose father was the headmaster of a Bristol school.  She began her life’s work after a severe outbreak of cholera in Bristol in 1832.  At this time there were practically no reformatory or industrial schools in the country, and Mary Carpenter set to work with some friends to found an institution near Bristol.  She worked to save children—­especially those whose lives were spent in the midst of sin and wickedness—­from becoming criminals, and in order to bring this about she aimed at making their surroundings as homelike and cheerful as possible.

She even helped to teach the children herself, as she found great difficulty in finding good assistants.  She wished to convince the Government that her methods were right, and so persuade them to set up schools of a similar kind throughout the country.