Joseph Fry

Joseph Fry (21 April 1777 – 28 August 1861) was a tea dealer and an unsuccessful banker. He was the husband of the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry. Parental family Joseph Fry's father was William Storrs Fry (1736–1808) who moved from Wiltshire to London and established a company dealing in tea and banking services, later called W. S. Fry & Sons. William married Elizabeth Lambert in 1767, who was, like him, a "plain" Quaker. Joseph was born in London 21 April 1777, the youngest of the three sons, and three daughters of William and Elizabeth Fry. One of his brothers died aged 27. He and his older brother, William Fry (1768–1858), joined the family business. However, their mother is credited with "the financial acumen which had enabled money both to be acquired and prudently managed: it was a quality which perhaps neither of the sons inherited". William Storrs Fry's brother Joseph Fry (1728–1787) founded the chocolate factory that was later to become J. S. Fry & Sons and a type-founding works in Bristol, for which the Fry family is famous.