Joseph Fry (tea merchant)
| Joseph Fry | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 April 1777 London, UK |
| Died | 28 August 1861 (aged 84) UK |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Fry (19 August 1800 – 12 October 1845) (her death) (11 children) |
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.
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.
On 19 August 1800 at the Norwich Quaker Meeting House, Goats Lane, Norwich, Joseph married Elizabeth Gurney (1780–1845), daughter of John Gurney (1749–1809) and Catherine Gurney (born Bell, 1755–1792). The bride's family were proverbially wealthy bankers, originally based in Norwich.
He had five sons and six daughters (one of whom died in infancy):
During the 1812 financial panic in the City of London, William Fry precipitated a crisis, by lending a large amount of the bank's money to his wife's family, undermining its solvency. It was Joseph's wife, with her Gurney financial grasp and her connections, who pulled things through; her brother John Gurney (1781–1814), brother-in-law Samuel Hoare III (1783–1847) and cousin Hudson Gurney (1775- 1864) came to inspect the firm's accounts and left her in no doubt that they would do "what is needful for us" which, meant a large investment in the W.S. Fry & Sons bank.
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