Maria Susan Rye, was an English social reformer and a promoter of emigration, especially of young women living in Liverpool workhouse

Workhouse

In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...

s. She was the daughter of solicitor Edward Rye and Maria Tuppen.

Achievements

Rye began her emigration work by transporting adult middle-class women to Australia and New Zealand. In 1861 she set up the Female Middle Class Emigration Society (1861–1908), supported by many of the ladies of Langham Place. The society provided interest-free loans repayable over a period of two years and four months, to enable educated women to emigrate. It also established and maintained correspondents at most colonial ports to which female emigrants might travel. In 1862, Rye sail to New Zealand with the first party sent out by the Society. Miss Rye went on to Australia and did not return to England until 1865. The society was most active between 1861 and 1867 when Rye was actively involved with the running of the society.

From 1865 onwards, Rye turned her attention to the rescue of poorhouse and orphaned children. This effort is the work for which she is best known in Canada. Between 1869 and 1896, 3623 female children were transferred from England to Canada. She made many trips herself, placing these children at her reception centres at Niagara-on-the-Lake

Niagara-on-the-Lake

Niagara-on-the-Lake is a Canadian town located in Southern Ontario where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region of the southern part of the province of Ontario. It is located across the Niagara river from Youngstown, New York, USA...

 and Peckham

London, Ontario

London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...

, Ontario. Most of the emigrants were wards of the English Poor Law unions.

By 1895, Miss Rye transferred her reception centres to the Church of England Waifs and Strays Society

The Children's Society

The Children's Society, formally The Church of England Children's Society, is a UK charity allied to the Church of England and driven by a belief that all children deserve a good childhood.-History:...

and retired.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Young Immigrants to Canada
• Female Middle Class Emigration Society, Women's Library , Appendix 1.4

Maria moved to Canada where she died of tropical diseases