[2] He was the son of William Ryrie, Lt., a merchant navy captain who commanded the big tea clippers Cairngorm and Flying Spur for Jardine, Matheson & Co., the then-largest trading firm in the East.
His brother Alexander drowned in 1855 when his ship, Jardine Matheson's Audax, was lost with all hands during a typhoon en route from Shanghai to Hong Kong.
With Alexander Finlay Smith, who had previously worked for Scotland's Highland Railway, he co-founded the High Level Tramway Company in 1885 and began to build the Peak Tram running from Garden Road to Victoria Gap.
Ryrie was the first to break the traditional five years term as a senior member on the council, and he continued serving for a quarter of a century until his death in office in 1892.
On 7 October 1878, he held a public meeting at the City Hall where he raised objection to the Governor and proposed to increase the penalty for the violation of order and peace,[2] the crime rate having risen after the abolition.
Under Ryrie's chairmanship the new club overcame a damaging 1885 flood and the loss of its surplus in 1891 due to bank failure, providing a stabilising presence.