A full-length figurehead possibly depicting Elizabeth Fry from a schooner-rigged merchant ship.

A full-length polychrome figurehead described as representing the Quaker and reformer Elizabeth Fry (1780–1845) and possibly from a schooner. Elizabeth Fry was a driving force behind new legislation to make the treatment of prisoners more humane. However, this figurehead is dressed far more fashionably than the modest Quaker attire worn by Fry. The brown jacket, blue skirt and simple black hat with red flower dates from a much later period. It may be that this is a late-nineteenth-century reinterpretation of the image of Fry. The closed eyes give the figurehead a pious expression, but earlier photographs show that they were painted open (Costa, 1979, p.155, Bailey, 1992, p.9). The figurehead is also holding a red umbrella in her right hand while the left hand is across her chest holding a black book with gold-edged pages.

Object Details

ID: ZBA7594
Type: Figurehead
Display location: Not on display
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Cutty Sark Collection. Long John Silver Collection
Measurements: Overall: 1090 mm x 370 mm x 430 mm