ABSTRACT
Sara Margery, born in March 1874, was the sixth daughter and eighth child of this distinguished and successful Quaker barrister and his wife. Business connections, the law and Quakerism were significant features in the childhood of Margery and her siblings, as were the sheer size of the family – nuclear and extended – and the number of girls within it. Margery Fry was a 'birth right' Quaker who could trace both sides of her family back to original members of the Religious Society of Friends. Education and science as well as business and philanthropy thus featured largely in Margery's family traditions. Margery's and Roger Fry's love of art and interior decoration can perhaps be ascribed to a rebellion against this tradition, although their preference for simple, modern, clean architectural lines and designs drawn from nature may represent the subtle influence of their Quaker forebears.
