Before this gets consigned to the dustbin of BS, where it belongs, I'd just like to reply.

The portrait on the £5 note is - obviously - of Elizabeth Fry in late middle age (old age in thise days). By then, she had had eleven children. In general, quakers didn't go in for portraits at that time, so I don't think there are any ones of her as a young woman. However, she was said to have been a very good looking young woman.

She was, apparently, quite vain about her appearance. She had married into a "plain" quaker family and was thus only allowed to wear grey clothing. Her household accounts, however, show that she had them made of the best materials, including silk.

BTW, her husband Joseph was once excluded from his local Quaker Meeting for wearing a red tie.

I'm really not sure how relevant a comment about a fairly poor portrait of an elderly woman is to anything at all. It's certainly the case that what she did is what she's celebrated for.

Perhaps anyone who's inclined to criticise her for her looks might find their time better spent in emulating her actions. After all, if you manage to do 1% of what she did during her lifetime you'd be doing pretty well.

;-)
Ian