Elizabeth Fry is lauded as an early 19th century prison reformer. But she had no formal background or training in prison or social work.

Research:

• BREED, ANNA. “ELIZABETH FRY.” Advocate of Peace (1847-1884), vol. 13, no. 3, 1882, pp. 21–22. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27906270 
• Britannica Editors. "Elizabeth Fry". Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 May. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Fry
• Britannica Editors. "Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Mar. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Thomas-Fowell-Buxton-1st-Baronet
• Buxton, Thomas Fowell. “An inquiry, whether crime and misery are produced or prevented, by our present system of prison discipline.” London. J. and A. Arch. 1818. https://archive.org/details/b33283333/page/14/mode/2up
• Cooper, Robert Alan. “THE ENGLISH QUAKERS AND PRISON REFORM 1809-23.” Quaker History, vol. 68, no. 1, 1979, pp. 3–19. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41946871
• Cooper, Robert Alan. “Jeremy Bentham, Elizabeth Fry, and English Prison Reform.” Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 42, no. 4, 1981, pp. 675–90. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2709127
• Corder, Susanna. “Life of Elizabeth Fry.” Philadelphia. H. Lonstreth. 1853. https://archive.org/details/lifeofelizabethf00cordiala/page/n9/mode/2up
• Craig, Russell L. “Correctional Education Historical Vignette: WOMEN IN CORRECTIONS: Elizabeth Gurney Fry.” Journal of Correctional Education, vol. 57, no. 2, 2006, pp. 141–44. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23282705
• Crawford, William, and Whitworth Russell. “Extracts from the second report of William Crawford and Whitworth Russell, Esqs., the Inspectors of Prisons for the Home District ; addressed to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Home Department.” National Library of medicine. Philadelphia : Republished by the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, 1838. https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101596454-bk
• Foxhall K. From convicts to colonists: the health of prisoners and the voyage to Australia, 1823-53. J Imp Commonw Hist. 2011;39(1):1-19. doi: 10.1080/03086534.2011.543793
• Griffiths, Arthur. “The Chronicles of Newgate.” LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL
  (Limited). 1884. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46746/46746-h/46746-h.htm
• Kent, John. “Elizabeth Fry.” London. B. Batsford. 1962.
• Rose, June. “Elizabeth Fry.” New York. St. Martin’s Press, 1981.