Life

Fry was born at Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, on 28 October 1803, the second son of Joseph Storrs Fry

Joseph Storrs Fry

Joseph Storrs Fry was an English chocolate and confectionery manufacturer and a member of the Fry Family of Bristol, England.-Early life:He was born in 1767, son of Joseph Fry and his wife Anna...

. He was educated at a large school at Fishponds, in the neighbourhood of Frenchay

Frenchay

Frenchay is a suburb of Bristol, England, to the north east of the city, but located mainly in South Gloucestershire and the Civil Parish of Winterbourne....

, kept by a Quaker named Joel Lean, and began business training at Croydon

Croydon

Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...

.

From his twentieth year to middle age he devoted himself to the rapidly increasing business of the firm of J. S. Fry & Sons, cocoa and chocolate manufacturers, at Bristol, in which he was later a partner. He took a part in the introduction of railways in the west of England, and was a member of the board of the Bristol and Gloucester Railway

Bristol and Gloucester Railway

The Bristol and Gloucester Railway opened in 1844 between Bristol and Gloucester, meeting the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway. It is now part of the main line from the North-East of England through Derby and Birmingham to the South-West.-History:...

, which held its first sitting 11 July 1839, retaining his position during various amalgamations of the line until its union with the Midland Railway

Midland Railway

The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....

. He was also a director of the Bristol and Exeter Railway

Bristol and Exeter Railway

The Bristol & Exeter Railway was a railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter.The company's head office was situated outside their Bristol station...

, the South Devon Railway

South Devon Railway

South Devon Railway could mean:* South Devon Railway Company - the company that built the railway from Exeter to Plymouth* South Devon Railway Trust - the heritage railway from Totnes to BuckfastleighOther heritage railways in South Devon include:...

, and other companies. He took a major share in managing the Bristol Waterworks (1846) until his death.

In 1839 he moved to Cotham, Bristol

Cotham, Bristol

Cotham is the name of both a council ward of the city of Bristol in the United Kingdom, and a suburb of the city that falls within that ward. The ward comprises the Cotham suburb, and a small portion of Redland, which is another Bristol suburb.-Cotham:...

, and built a house close to the old Tower. With William Forster, father of William Edward Forster

William Edward Forster

William Edward Forster PC, FRS was an English industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party statesman.-Early life:...

, and Robert Alsop, he visited Northern Italy in 1850, as a deputation from the Society of Friends to various crowned heads, asking for their support in the abolition of slavery.. In 1852 he made proposals to the railway companies for a general parcel service throughout the United Kingdom.

He was a member of the committee of the Bristol Philosophical Society, as well as of the Bristol Museum and Library. He took an interest in other associations for social improvement. He died 12 November 1886, soon after the completion of his eighty-third year, and was buried in the Friends' graveyard at King's Weston, near Bristol.

Collector

Books and china formed his chief study. His collection of specimens produced at the Bristol factory between 1768 and 1781 was particularly complete. Many examples were described by Hugh Owen His collection of bibles and testaments numbered nearly thirteen hundred, chiefly English, especially editions of the versions of Tyndale, Coverdale, and Cranmer, but with a number of first editions in other languages.

Bibliographer and editor

He catalogued the library of the Monthly Meeting at Bristol in 1860. On a visit to Germany, a discovery made by Fry at Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, about books printed at Worms

Worms, Germany

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...

 by Peter Schöffer the younger, enabled him to decide that William Tyndale

William Tyndale

William Tyndale was an English scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New Testament available in Europe, and by Martin Luther...

's first English New Testament came from Schöffer's press. Two years later Fry produced his facsimile reprint, by means of tracing and lithography, of Tyndale's New Testament (1525 or 1526), the first complete edition printed in English, from the only perfect copy known, later in the Baptist College, Bristol.

In the same year he edited a facsimile reprint of the pamphlet known as the ‘Souldier's Pocket Bible,’ distributed to Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

's army, and discovered by George Livermore of Boston, who had himself reprinted it the previous year. Several editions were circulated among the soldiers during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. The altered and enlarged edition, the ‘Christian Soldier's Penny Bible’ (1693), was also facsimiled and edited by Fry.

In 1863 he issued a couple of small rare pieces illustrative of Tyndale's version, and in 1865 published his rbibliographical treatise on the Great Bible of 1539, the six editions of Cranmer's Bible of 1540 and 1541, and the five editions of the Authorised Version. Fry visited private and public libraries to collate different copies of these bibles. This work was followed by his account of Miles Coverdale's translation of the Scriptures, and his description of forty editions of Tyndale's version, most of them having variants.

Works

• ‘A Catalogue of Books in the Library belonging to the Monthly Meeting in Bristol,’ 3rd edit. Bristol, 1860.
• ‘The First New Testament printed in the English Language (1525 or 1526), translated from the Greek by William Tyndale, reproduced in facsimile, with an Introduction,’ Bristol, 1862.
• ‘The Souldiers Pocket Bible, printed at London by G. B. and R. W. for G. C. 1643, reproduced in facsimile, with an Introduction,’ London, 1862, (this consists of texts of Scripture, chiefly from the Geneva version, with special applications).
• ‘The Christian Soldiers Penny Bible, London, printed by R. Smith for Sam. Wade, 1693, reproduced in facsimile with an Introductory Note,’ London, 1862 (the previous work altered, with the texts from the authorised version somewhat incorrectly quoted).
• ‘A proper Dyaloge betwene a gentillman and a husbandman eche complaynynge to other their miserable calamite through the ambicion of clergye with a compendious olde treatyse shewynge howe that we ought to have the Scripture in Englysshe, Hans Luft, 1530, reproduced in facsimile, with an Introduction,’ London, 1863.
• ‘The prophete Jonas, with an Introduction by Wm. Tyndale, reproduced in facsimile, to which is added Coverdale's version of Jonah, with an Introduction,’ London, 1863, (these two works reproduced from unique copies in the library of Lord Arthur Hervey).
• ‘The Standard Edition of the English New Testament of the Genevan Version,’ London, 1864, (reprinted from the ‘Journal of Sacred Literature,’ July 1864).
• ‘A Description of the Great Bible, 1539, and the six editions of Cranmer's Bible, 1540 and 1541, printed by Grafton and Whitchurch; also of the editions in large folio of the Authorised Version printed in 1611, 1613, 1617, 1634, 1640; illustrated with titles and with passages from the editions, the genealogies and the maps, copied in facsimile, also with an identification of every leaf of the first seven and of many leaves of the other editions, on fifty-one plates, together with an original leaf of each of the editions described,’ London, 1865, folio. *‘The Bible by Coverdale, 1535, remarks on the titles, the year of publication, &c., with facsimiles,’ London, 1867.
• ‘A List of most of the Words noticed exhibiting the peculiar orthography used in Tindale's New Testament,’ Bristol, 1871, (single sheet, circulated to inquire as to the edition ‘finished in 1535’).
• ‘A Bibliographical Description of the Editions of the New Testament, Tyndale's Version in English, with numerous readings, comparisons of texts, and historical notices, the notes in full from the edition of November 1534, an account of two octavo editions of the New Testament of the Bishop's version, without numbers to the verses, illustrated with 73 plates,’ London, 1878.
• ‘Description of a Title-page of a New Testament dated anno 1532,’ Bristol, 1885, (with facsimile of title-page, two leaves).

Family

In 1833 he married Matilda, only daughter of Daniel and Anne Penrose, of Brittas

Brittas

Brittas may refer to*Brittas, Dublin a village in South County Dublin, Ireland*Brittas Bay, a seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland*The Brittas Empire, a British sitcom...

, County Wicklow

County Wicklow

County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...

.