Sophia Fry

Sophia Fry later Lady Fry (11 June 1837 – 30 March 1897) was a British political activist, notable for founding the Women's Liberal Federation.

Life

Born in Darlington as Sophia Pease, she was brought up as a Quaker and as an activist in liberal politics. Her parents were John Pease who was a Quaker and a director of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and Sophia Pease who was also a Quaker. She and her sister Mary Anna were educated at home, and for one year at a school in Frenchay, where she met Sarah Sturge and Theodore Fry. She developed an interest in education for the working class, and started running weekly training for pupil-teachers, and ran cookery classes.[1]

Sophia married Fry in 1862, the couple settling in Darlington, and had eight children. Sophia was a founder of the Girls' Friends Day School in Bristol and was active in the North of England College, run by the British and Foreign School Society.[1]

At the 1880 UK general election, Theodore was elected as the Member of Parliament for Darlington and, inspired by this and by William Gladstone's Midlothian Campaign, Sophia formed a Women's Liberal Association in the town in 1881. While there was not yet consensus that women should play a role in politics, Fry was determined that women should campaign for the Liberal Party.[1] She corresponded with members of various women's liberal associations around the country, and in 1886 invited fifteen of them to her house to discuss forming a national federation. This was agreed, and the Women's Liberal Federation (WLF) was established in London in 1887, Fry becoming its honorary secretary.[2][3] It grew rapidly, and had 75,000 members within five years.[1]

In 1892, the WLF split over whether to support women's suffrage. While Fry was personally in favour, she felt it was a divisive issue and should not become the policy of the group. As a result, when the policy was voted in, she left to become a founder of the rival Women's National Liberal Association, serving as its vice-president.[1]

Theodore was made a baronet in 1894, so Sophia became Lady Fry. In 1896, the couple holidayed in Italy, but she suffered a severe accident, and died in March 1897 in Biarritz.[1]

References
  1. "Fry, Sophia". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/56104. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Cowman, Krista (2010). Women in British Politics, c.1689-1979. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230545571.
  3. Hollis, Patricia (1989). Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government 1865-1914. Oxford University Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0198221579.
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