Marcus Rainsford


Marcus Rainsford 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. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and obtained an MA in 1773. He joined the Irish [Volunteers (18th century)|Irish Volunteers] in 1779.
He obtained a commission and saw service in the 105th regiment, commanded by Francis, lord Rawdon 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 Prince [Frederick, Duke of York and Albany|Duke of York] in the Netherlands, during the Low Countries theatre of [the War of the First Coalition|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.
  • Rainsford. A poem in heroic couplets, The Revolution; or Britain Delivered, London, 1801.