Annie MacPherson was born in Campsie by Milton, Stirlingshire, in Scotland and educated at the Home and Colonial Training College in Gray's Inn Road, London. She is a philanthropist who is accepted as the pioneer of child emigration to Canada.

After her father died she moved to Cambridge, but soon after returned to London. Touched by the poverty in the eastend of London in 1868 she opened the Home of Industry at 60 Commercial Road in Spitalfield.

In the 1870s, she organised that Home children

Home children

Home Children is a common term used to refer to the child migration scheme founded by Annie MacPherson in 1869, under which more than 100,000 children were sent to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa from the United Kingdom....

 were sent to Canada from her home in London also had arrangements with Barnardo's

Barnardo's

Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children and young people. As of 2010, it spends over £190 million each year on more than 400 local services aimed at helping these same groups...

 Homes of Dr. Barnardo in London, Quarriers

Quarriers

Quarriers is a Scottish social care charity based in Quarrier's Village, Inverclyde. It provides care and support for people with a disability, children and families, young people, young homeless people, people with epilepsy and carers...

 homes in Scotland, and Smyly homes

Ellen Smyly

Ellen Smyly was born on 14 November 1815, the daughter of Matthew Franks. She became a prominent philanthropist, fund-raising and setting up homes and schools for the poor. The Smyly Homes and subsequent Smyly Trust are named after her and her family.At the age of 19 she married the Dublin surgeon...

 in Dublin, Ireland similar to arrangements with English and Scottish homes.
In Canada she had set up a number of Homes, Marchmont, Galt and Knowlton in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

.

The Doyle Report of 1875 into the emigration of children from these homes cast a shadow over the process of exporting children although it acknowledged the benevolent motives of MacPherson and others.

Her sister Lousia MacPherson married Charles Henry Birt, and helped her sister in her mission.
In 1873 she establish a home in Liverpool the Sheltering Home.