Background
He was born in Dublin to Marcus Rainsford, who was a chaplain in a hospital for the blind.
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 Saint 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 Saint James"s Cathedral in Toronto.
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. He published several books, including:
Sermons Preached In Saint George"s (1887).
New York: Dodd, Mead & Company
Good Friday Meditation (1901).
New York: East.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.
In May 1882, the vestry of Saint 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 New York
