Maria Rye

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Maria Susan Rye, (31 March 1829 – 12 November 1903), was an English social reformer and a promoter of emigration, especially of young women living in Liverpool workhouses.

Miss Rye began her emigration work by transporting adult middle-class women to Australia and New Zealand. This occurred from 1861 to 1867 and she accompanied these groups. With rising costs, she brought a group to Canada in 1868.

Beginning in 1869, she 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, 3,623 female children were brought to Canada. She made many trips herself, placing these children at her reception centres at Niagara-on-the-Lake and Peckham, 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 and retired.