Marcus Rainsford

Marcus Rainsford
Rainsford (left)
Born	circa 1758^[citation needed] Kildare, Dublin, Ireland
Died	4 November 1817(1817-11-04) (aged 58–59) London, England
Resting place	St Giles in the Fields, London, England
Education	Trinity College Dublin TCD
Occupation(s)	Soldier, author, historian
Known for	Author on the Haitian Revolution
Signature

Captain Marcus Rainsford (c. 1758 – 4 November 1817)[1] was a British Army officer who fought in the Battle of Camden in 1780, during the American Revolutionary War. 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, Kildare, born c. 1750.[2] He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and obtained an MA in 1773. He joined the Irish Volunteers (18th century) in 1779.

The Dublin Volunteers 1778

He obtained a commission and saw service in the 105th regiment, commanded by Francis, lord Rawdon (afterwards second) Earl of Moira, during the American War of Independence. He took part in Siege of Charleston and the Battle of Camden in 1780. He then went to Jamaica with the Duke of Cumberland's Regiment.

In 1794 he served under the Duke of York in the Netherlands, during the Flanders Campaign and was afterwards employed in raising black troops in the West Indies.

In 1799 Rainsford visited St. Domingo, and had an interview with Toussaint L'Ouverture. 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, 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 couplets, The Revolution; or Britain Delivered, London, 1801 (2nd edit.).

References

1. Rainsford, Marcus (2013). Youngquist, Paul; Pierrot, Gregory (eds.). An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti. Durham: Duke University Press. pp. xi–xv. ISBN 9780822352785.
2. Rigg, James McMullen (1889). "Rainsford, Marcus" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 17. London: Smith, Elder & Co.