This application is being made on behalf of St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Kingsclear, New Brunswick.

Lawrence Bradshaw Rainsford was the fourth son of Captain, the Honourable Andrew Rainsford, who was the Receiver General of His Majesty’s Quit Rents in West Florida from 1774 until it was captured by the Spanish in 1781.  He was also active in military affairs serving as the Fort-Adjutant and Barrack-Master at Fort George.  After the end of the revolution, he and his family came to New Brunswick as Loyalists.  Andrew Rainsford held several public offices including Receiver General for the province and Deputy Barrack Master General.  Five of his sons later served in the military.

Bradshaw Rainsford was commissioned as an Ensign in His Majesty’s New Brunswick Regiment of Fencible Infantry on 7 December 1809 at the age of nineteen.  The following year his regiment was elevated to the line as the 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment of Foot.  By 10 October 1811, Bradshaw had left the regiment, reportedly on a transfer to the 7th Garrison Battalion.  Following the departure of the 104th to the Canadas in 1813, Lieutenant General John Coffin was authorized to raise the New Brunswick Fencibles (Coffin’s Regiment).  The regiment was to replace the 104th and to form the garrison of New Brunswick in conjunction with a regular infantry battalion.  The New Brunswick Fencibles manned the more remote posts along the Upper St. John River and those guarding the portage routes from Maine, which were possible avenues for an American invasion.  They also crewed the St. John River Flotilla, a group of gunboats and transports operating on the St. John River.

On 1 June 1814, Bradshaw received a lieutenant’s commission in the New Brunswick Fencibles.  One source says that his commission was contingent of meeting his recruiting quota, which he failed to do, as the 104th had already swept up the majority of the available potential recruits.  This issue must have been resolved as the Army List for 1816 shows his as a Lieutenant with no qualifying comments.

Following the disbandment of the New Brunswick Fencibles on 24 February 1816, he received a grant of 500 acres of land in the Military Settlement that was created along the St. John River between Florenceville-Bristol and Grand Falls.  Later, he moved to Kingsclear where he received another grant of 500 acres of land.  Like his father, he held a number of government positions: Deputy Receiver General (1818), Justice of the Peace and Supervisor of the Great Roads between Fredericton and the Magaquadavic River and between Eel River and the Little Digdeguash River.

He married Sarah Ann, daughter of Colonel and Judge Edward Winslow, and had at least five children.  He is buried in St. Peter’s Anglican Chapel Cemetery along with his wife, Sarah Ann, and a son, Thomas Baillie.

References

W. Austin Squires. The 104th Regiment of Foot (The New Brunswick Regiment) 1803-1817. Fredericton: Brunswick Press, 1962.

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick:
MC 300 MS 15. Major G. Harold Markham fonds.

University of New Brunswick Libraries:
The Loyalist Collection

Family Link: Andrew William Rainsford & Charles Rainsford