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tightness were manifest in the eveu tenour of his conduct ; and for benevolence in his arduous occupation , a BOTfl pulous regard to an honourable deportment towards his professional brethren , fidelity in friendship , and general philanthropy in his intercourses with the community , he could hardly be excelled .
One instance , which should not be omitted , may suffice to demonstrate how strong was his feeling of humanity , when excited by a cage that appeared to demand his generous efforts . In the year 1820 , three young men of the Potteries , utter strangers to him , were tried , couvicted and condemned at the Stafford spring assizes . Soon after this
deplorable occurrence , some circumstances , connected with the criminal behaviour for which they had been arraigned , came to his knowledge , which te conceived greatly extenuated their guilt , and couviuced him that they ought not to suffer death , and , consequently , that this excessive punishment should not be inflicted without a representation of the palliative circumstances beiug
submitted to the supreme authority . Actuated by this persuasion he rode to the Potteries , devoted several days to an inquiry into the whole of this affair , was at great pains and considerable expense in collecting evidences and taking the necessary measures for having their testimonies confirmed ; and by this investigation he became more fully convinced that the execution of the condemned
prisoners would be a subversion of justice . He then drew up a petition to the judge , Richardson , who tried them , which he sent with a lettter and depositions , representing what had occurred , entreating his intercession on their behalf ; and another petition to Lord Sidmouth , then Secretary of State for the Home Department , praying him to
recommend to His Majesty a commutation of their sentence , which he sent with the signatures of 237 respectable persons . With the latter petition he transmitted a letter from a solicitor who had been engaged in the cause , and a letter from himself , accompanied with many attestations which detailed a variety of facts , that from sad neglect and the legal adviser ' s
confidence of an acquittal , were not brought forward at the trial , so favourable to fjhe youths , by subverting the credibility of their notoriously Infamous accuser , as to induce a general belief that they could not fail of causing an alteration of their awful doom . His mind was therefore inspired with the pleasing hope that bis ardent exertions
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would have been rewarded by the staying of the hand of the executioner ; and had he been instrumental to the saving of their lives his sensibility would have received the highest gratification . But , alas ! his compassionate heart was disappointed , and all who signed the petition were astonished and grieved by the noble secretary ' s answer , which
informed him that he could not , consistently with his public duty , advise His Majesty to exercise mercy towards the condemned malefactors . Accordingly they were shortly after executed , to the sorrow of almost every person acquainted with the circumstances , and to the discouragement of merciful endeavours , on just grounds , to obtain the mitigation of a too severe penalty .
Feeling a warm concern for the recovery of his patients and the promotion of their welfare , his habitual aim was utility iu his profession , and he was sedulous and indefatigable in pursuing this worthy end , rendering his practice much less tributary to his personal interest than he might have done , and often acting gratuitously , and even
supplying pecuniary aid in particular instances of affliction and indigence . He had a quick discernment of the characteristic symptoms which different diseases exhibit , and wherever he discovered danger he was prompt and
persevering in administering all the assistance in his power for relief . He neglected no case that required his vigilant attention , if he could possibly yield it , though it might , and frequently did in dark and stormy nights , subject him to much inconvenience and trouble ; and he made no distinction between the
rich and the poor , often observing to a beloved relative , who wished to abate his diligence from an idea that such incessant toil would be injurious to his health , that the life of a poor man was to himself as precious and important as that of the rich could be to him , and sometimes of more consequeuce to his
family . A deportment so correct and benevolent could not but secure approbation and respect , which was remarkably testified by the numerous congratulations he received from many of the Inhabitants of Stafford and its vicinity , when he returned from Kidderminster , where he had been for six weeks with
his father , for recovering his strength after he experienced the ruptured bloodvessel , on which occasion no remarked , that he had no conception of his being so generally respected : and , that hie moral as well as professional worth was
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446 Obituary . —Mr . Bernard Fry .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1827, page 446, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1797/page/54/
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