- From
- 1862
- Alternative Names
- British Women's Emigration Association
- Female Middle Class Emigration Society
- Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women
- United British Women's Emigration Association
- United Englishwoman's Emigration Association (UEEA)
- United Englishwoman's Emigration Register
Summary
The Female Middle Class Emigration Society, founded by Maria Rye and Jane Lewin in 1862, was one of a number of organisations that emerged in the late nineteenth century and sought to tackle the perceived ‘surplus women’ problem in the United Kingdom. Like the Colonial Intelligence League, and the South African Colonisation Society, its aim was to assist unemployed, educated British women with emigration by finding them employment, usually as governesses or clerks, in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. These three organisations amalgamated in 1919 to form the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women.


