Abstract
Maria Rye is one of those elusive figures who makes an occasional appearance in histories of Victorian feminism and emigration, only to fade from view prematurely in deference to more mainstream actors. The basic reference and starting point has been Edwin A. Pratt's short hagiography, Pioneer Women in Victoria's Reign (1897), together with assorted papers at the Fawcett Library. From this a succession of historians since the 1960s, myself included, have constructed the standard picture of a relatively conservative lesser figure among the "Ladies of Langham Place" who fought to breach the barriers against gainful employment for middle-class women. Rye's special contribution in that campaign was to turn to the outlet of emigration in the face of intractable problems in Britain. Embroiled in debates about careers or husband-hunting for middle-class women in various colonies, Rye embarked on a long journey to Australia and New Zealand, where she ultimately and reluctantly recognized the limited scope for educated governesses in the colonies and pursued emigration opportunities predominantly for domestic servants. By the late 1860s she had moved on to an interest in child migration to Canada—"waifs and strays" in the standard terminology—and at that point in most histories of feminism she disappears from sight.
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