THE North-East connection to the £5 note, thought to be at an end with the removal of George Stephenson, is to continue after all.

The Bank of England announced this week that railway pioneer Stephenson is to be replaced on the note next summer by 19th Century prison reformer Elizabeth Fry.

Historians in the region reacted with dismay to the news, but it has been discovered that Fry has particularly strong links with Darlington.

A Quaker philanthropist, she battled to improve the living conditions of women in European jails.

She was born in Norwich in 1780, the daughter of John Gurney, a rich Quaker merchant banker whose family donated several thousand pounds to the Stockton and Darlington railway project.

Two of her cousins married into the powerful Pease and Backhouse Darlington families, who also invested much in Stephenson's project.

She is known to have visited Darlington at least twice. Her first confirmed trip was in 1799 when she visited the Quaker Meeting House, which was on the same site as it is today in Skinnergate.

An entry in her memoirs, published in 1847, describes the visit, and says: "I was much pleased with the Friends there and their appearance of unity and hospitality."

A second entry records that she also came to Darlington in 1820 when she stayed at a Quaker home.

Two prints of a portrait of Elizabeth Fry still hang in the Quaker Meeting House to this day.

Warden Glen Reynolds said: "People in Darlington should not be upset by losing Stephenson from the £5 note, because there's still a connection with the town through the Quakers and Elizabeth Fry.

"George Stephenson was not a Quaker, but he was financed by the Gurney, Pease and Backhouse families.

"So in a way the link with Elizabeth Fry is an even stronger association with Darlington, certainly as far as Quaker history goes."