She visited convict ships and workhouses and was involved in creating the Band of Hope in London.
Her mother suffered from partial paralysis as the result of a stroke and on her return she cared for her until her death.
Hanbury would in time take over the organisation of convict ship visiting after Elizabeth Pryor was disowned after she asked the prison authorities for remuneration.
[1] The first "Band of Hope" in London was formed at her house by Thomas Bywater Smithies and it included some of her neighbours and children.
She had a long decline starting in 1859 in Darlington that progressed via a stroke and taking her to London where she died in Penge in 1874.