William S. Rainsford

Rainsford in 1898

William Stephen Rainsford (October 30, 1850 − December 17, 1933) was the rector of St. George's Church in Stuyvesant Square in New York from 1882 to 1906.^[1][2]

He was born in Dublin to Marcus Rainsford, who was a chaplain in a hospital for the blind. He attended Cambridge University. He spent time in the south of France, suspending his studies for health reasons. When he left France he led a group of 800 people emigrating from the London slums to western Canada. He became a curate at the Parish of St. Giles in Norwich in England, and after four years accepted an offer to preach in New York for four months. In 1878 he took a position at St. James's Cathedral in Toronto.^[2]

In May 1882, the vestry of St. George's Church, which included J. Pierpont Morgan, offered the post of rector to Rainsford; several members of the vestry had heard Rainsford preach when he was in New York. The church was under some stress, because of changes in the local population and a substantial debt of $35,000. After some negotiations he accepted. Rainsford is reported to have said that after a month of his sermons seven of the fourteen families still attending the church had left, but after that point the church's membership grew.^[2]

He married Emily Alma Green in London in 1878, and they had three sons: Lawrence, Ralph Stewart, and Kerr. His wife died in 1923, and he remarried, to Harriette Rogers.^[2]

He published several books, including:

• Sermons Preached In St. George's (1887). New York: Dodd, Mead & Company
• Good Friday Meditation (1901). New York: E.P. Dutton & Company
• Reasonableness of Faith, and Other Addresses (1902). New York: Doubleday, Page & Company
• A Preacher's Story of His Work (1903). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Outlook Company
• The Land of the Lion (1909). New York: Doubleday, Page & Company
• The Reasonableness of the Religion of Jesus (1913). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
• The Story of a Varied Life: An Autobiography (1922). New York: Doubleday, Page & Company

References

• Anstice, Henry (1911). History of Saint George's Church in the City of New York, 1752–1811–1911. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Footnotes

1. Anstice (1911), pp. 287−291.
2. "Dr. W.S. Rainsford Dies in 84th Year". New York Times. 18 December 1933. p. 19.

External links

• Works by or about William S. Rainsford at Internet Archive