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 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 ...

. 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 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 cent ...

, 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) 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 Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, (9 December 175428 November 1826), styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762, Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783, The Lord Rawdon from 1783 to 1793 and The Earl of Moira b ...

(afterwards second) Earl of Moira, during the American War of Independence. 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 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 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 List of English monarchs, English (later List of British monarchs, British) monarchs. ...

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 – Au ...

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 Great ...

. In 1799 Rainsford visited

St. Domingo Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refe ...

, 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

{{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