Lewis Fry

Lewis Fry (16 April 1832 – 10 September 1921) was a Quaker, lawyer, philanthropist and a Liberal and later Liberal and Unionist politician who sat in the House of Commons in three spells between 1878 and 1900.

Early life Fry was the son of Joseph Fry (1795–1879) and his wife Mary Anne Swaine (1797–1886) and was a member of the Fry family known for their chocolate business. He was articled to a Quaker Solicitor, Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, who had also trained his elder brother, Edward Fry. He was admitted in 1854 and practiced in Bristol until he entered Parliament.

Parliamentary service Fry was Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol between 1878 and 1885, and a Liberal and Unionist for Bristol North between 1885–1892 and 1895–1900.

He was sworn a member of the Privy Council after the accession of King Edward VII on 24 January 1901 and was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Gloucestershire shortly thereafter.

He was Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Town Holdings, 1886–1892 and author of two reports of same.

Other public service Fry served on Bristol Town Council from 1866 to 1884. He drew up an influential scheme for religious education in elementary schools.

He supported a number of Bristol public institutions: the School of Science and Art, the Museum and Library and the Evening Classes Association and the local branch of the Charities Organization Society.

One of his chief pleasures was his interest in art, and was himself an amateur painter.

Marriage and family On 29 September 1858, he married Elizabeth Pease Gibson, the only daughter of the banker Francis Gibson of Saffron Walden, Essex. She died in 1870. Their children are: Lewis George (b.3 July 1860) Elizabeth Wyatt (b.31 July 1861), married in 1902 to Eugene Hugo Mallett, youngest son of Sir Louis Mallet. Francis Gibson (b.25 May 1863) Millicent Mary (b. 20 August 1866) Anna Theodora (b.24 August 1870)

Death He lived at Goldney Hall in Clifton. It is now a Hall of Residence of the university. He died shortly after celebrating his 89th birthday.

The Lewis Fry Memorial Lecture was established in 1924 by his surviving children. The endowment provides for an annual lecture to be given by a scholar of distinction on subjects connected with the Fine Arts, History, Literature, Music, Drama, Philosophy, Theology or Education.