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Lydia Irving (15 May 1797 – 22 February 1893) was a British philanthropist & prison visitor. She was a leading Quaker and she worked closely with Elizabeth Fry seeking to improve conditions for women in prisons and on convict ships filled with those to be transported.
In 1825 she joined the British Ladies Society for promoting the reformation of female prisoners which had been founded for years previously. She worked on outfitting ships working closely with Elizabeth Pryor who was ~26 years her senior. They were close friends and one account hints that they may have been lesbians. Irving got involved with the finances but she was a keen visitor to White Cross Street debtors' prison.
Irving served on the convict ship sub-committee and she had a financial success when she persuaded the Navy board to fund "gifts" for the transportees. These basic items included knives, forks, aprons and sewing materials. During the 25 years that Fry was involved 12,000 women were transported on 106 ships. The plan was to visit every ship on the night before it sailed to calm the women bound for Australia. William Evans, the surgeon of the "Lady of The Lake" noted the valuable worth of the Ladies Society and he singled out Pryor and Irving's work for praise. This ship took 142 days to transport 79 women convicts. storylines, Retrieved 21 June 2017
In 1838 the Friends sent a party to France. Irving went with Elizabeth Fry and her husband, and the abolitionists Josiah Forster and William Allen. They were there on other business but despite the language barrier Fry and Lydia Irving visited French prisons.Amanda Phillips, ‘Irving, Lydia (1797–1893)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 20 June 2017
The convict sub-committee's work was singled out for thanks by the women on board the Rajah as it travelled to Australia. The convicts used the sewing materials to create an enormous quilt that is now regarded as one of Australia's most important textiles. The Rajah Quilt contains a message in the border giving thanks to the convict ship committee. The quilt was presented to the governor's wife Jane Franklin. The organisation of this quilt is considered to be Kezia Hayter who was the only free woman. She had come from the Millbank Penitentiary to assist Franklin in forming her own committee to mirror the one in the UK. The text on the quilt reads:
The convict ship committee included Elizabeth Hanbury, Katherine Fry and Hannah Bevan. Hanbury would in time take over the organisation of convict ship visiting as Elizabeth Pryor was disowned after she asked the prison authorities for remuneration.
Irving's good friend Elizabeth Fry died in 1845 and the Ladies Society funded an Elizabeth Fry Refuge for the repentant. Irving worked closely with the committee that organised this. Irving went blind in 1877. The Ladies Society agreed to pay her a lump sum and a pension to thank her for her work.
Irving died in Stoke Newington in 1893.
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