Fry Family - Origins

Origins

The name Fry probably started out as a nickname of someone being free, that is not a serf and not belonging to a lord. The root was the Old English frig, meaning "free born." This surname appeared mainly in the west country. Thomas le Frye was recorded in the Wiltshire rolls of 1273 and the region of north Wiltshire, around Malmesbury, provided some early sightings of the name.

This social class was known as "Franklin", which also survives as a surname, and the surname "Freeman" might also be of a similar social origin.

The earliest known possible Fry ancestor is supposed to be Richard Fry who married secondly Joan Beaufort, great granddaughter of John of Gaunt.

The Fry family can fairly reliably trace their roots to the Wiltshire village of Corston.

William Fry who was baptised on 31 May 1627 in Malmsbury, Wiltshire married his wife Mary about 1652 in Sutton Benger, Wiltshire. William moved from Corston to Sutton Benger and was the first of the Fry family to live there. It was in Sutton Benger that the Fry family established themselves as leading Quakers in Wiltshire.

It was William and Mary's son Zephaniah Fry (1658-1728) who was the first member of the family to embrace the Quaker faith. There was a rise in the popularity of nonconformist religious practices across the whole of North Wiltshire in the seventeenth century, and in Sutton Benger this was also true. Zephaniah was one of those who embraced the doctrines of the Society of Friends (Quakers), while still single. He attended the Kington Langley meeting. A record of one meeting held in their house is given in George Fox’s Journals: “At … Frye’s in Wiltshire we had a very blessed meeting and quiet, though the officers had purposed to break it up by thieves, and they were required to go back again with speed, to search after and pursure them; by which our meeting escaped disturbance and we were preserved our of their hands.” However, meetings of more than five persons were forbidden by the Conventicle Act, and once arrested Quakers would be orders to take the oath of allegiance, which they refused to do taking the command ‘Swear not at all’ literally. Zephaniah was arrested in 1683 and sent to Ilchester Goal for three month, but “emerged unscarred”.

The patriarch of the most important branch of the family was Zephaniah's son, John Fry (1701–1775),. John moved to London at the age of 13 or 14, probably to take up an apprenticeship, but he disliked London. He appears to have already made his fortune by the age of 25 and married Mary Storrs of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on 23 March 1727 while in London. With his wife John returned to Sutton Benger, where he built a small house, carved their initials above the door, fathered six children, employed one servant, and enjoyed to the end of his days a quiet, rural life. His house was certified for Quaker meetings. He was active in the unpaid ministry of the Society of Friends and wrote poetry. He was also an author. He published a Quaker book of ‘Selected poems Containing Religious Epistle etc.’ which was prefaced “Sutton Benger 25th March 1774”.

John's son, William Storrs Fry (1736–1808) was probably born in Wiltshire, where his parents stayed and he who moved to London. He married Elizabeth Lambert. William was a Tea Dealer, though Elizabeth is credited as being the one 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 and Elizabeth lived in Plashet House, a mansion in East Ham, which passed into the hands of William Storrs Fry in 1787.

William was the father of the Joseph Fry (1777–1861) the tea merchant who married the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry née Gurney (1780–1845). There is also another William Storrs Fry (circa 1806–1844) who was one of the 11 children of Joseph and Elizabeth Fry.