Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Marcus Rainsford (c. 1758 – 4 November 1817) was an officer in the British Army, serving in the

Battle of Camden The Battle of Camden (August 16, 1780), also known as the Battle of Camden Court House, was a major victory for the British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. On August 16, 1780, British forces under Lieutenant General ...

in 1780, during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He published ''An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti'', London, in 1805.

Biography

Rainsford was a younger son of Edward Rainsford of

Sallins Sallins () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland, situated 3.5 km north of the town centre of Naas, from which it is separated by the M7 motorway (Ireland), M7 motorway. Sallins is the anglicised name of ''Na Solláin'' which means "the wil ...

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...

, born c. 1750. He was educated at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and obtained an MA in 1773. He joined the

Irish Volunteers (18th century) The Volunteers (also known as the Irish Volunteers) were local militias raised by local initiative in Ireland in 1778. Their original purpose was to guard against invasion and to preserve law and order at a time when British soldiers were wi ...

in 1779.

Francis Wheatley - The Dublin Volunteers on College Green

He obtained a commission and saw service in the 105th regiment, commanded by Francis, lord Rawdon (afterwards second)

Earl of Moira Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

, during the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He took part in

Siege of Charleston The siege of Charleston was a major engagement and major British victory in the American Revolutionary War, fought in the environs of Charles Town (today Charleston), the capital of South Carolina, between March 29 and May 12, 1780. The Britis ...

and the

in 1780. He then went to Jamaica with the

Duke of Cumberland's Regiment The Duke of Cumberland's Regiment, also known as Montagu's Corps, South Carolina Rangers, and the Loyal American Rangers, was a British Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalist provincial unit raised from American colonists and rebel prisoners by ...

. In 1794 he served under the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, during the

Flanders Campaign The Flanders Campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries) was conducted from 20 April 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the War of the First Coalition. A coalition of states representing the Ancien Régime in Western Europe – Aus ...

and was afterwards employed in raising black troops in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. In 1799 Rainsford visited St. Domingo, and had an interview with

Toussaint L'Ouverture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (; also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda; 20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803) was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture ...

. He was subsequently arrested and condemned to death as a spy, but was reprieved and eventually set at liberty. Rainsford died in November 1817 and is buried in

St Giles in the Fields St Giles in the Fields is the Anglican parish church of the St Giles district of London. It stands within the London Borough of Camden and belongs to the Diocese of London. The church, named for St Giles the Hermit, began as a monastery and ...

, London, England.

Works

* Rainsford.''A Memoir of Transactions that took place in St. Domingo in the Spring of 1799'' (London, 1802; 2nd edit. as ''St. Domingo; or an Historical, Political, and Military Sketch of the Black Republic'', 1802).
Rainsford. ''An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti'', London, 1805
* Rainsford. A poem in

heroic couplet A heroic couplet is a traditional form for English poetry, commonly used in epic and narrative poetry, and consisting of a rhyming pair of lines in iambic pentameter. Use of the heroic couplet was pioneered by Geoffrey Chaucer in the ''Legend of ...

s, ''The Revolution; or Britain Delivered'', London, 1801 (2nd edit.).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rainsford, Marcus 1750s births 1817 deaths Year of birth uncertain People from Sallins British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War Haitian Revolution British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Alumni of Trinity College Dublin British Army officers Military personnel from County Kildare