William S. Rainsford
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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.