Samuel Rainford

Merchant and slave-factor in Jamaica, partner with Robert Rainford senior (q.v.) and Jonathon Blundell jun. (q.v.). The two men had family in Wallasey in England who benefited under their respective wills.

1. Will of Samuel Rainford merchant of Kingston Jamaica proved 28/01/1799. He instructed his executors to sell his property in Jamaica, stipulating that the 'negroes' to be sold should be able to choose their buyers, rather than be sold to 'accidental' purchasers. He left annuities of £80 p.a and £40 p.a. respectively to his brothers John and Joseph of Wallasey, and £50 p.a. to his sister Jane Harrison wife of Richard Harrison of Bidstone in the county of Chester. He left £3000 to his brother Robert, net of the settlement of their private account together and the account of their partnership Rainford, Blundell and Rainford.

2. Samuel Rainford left £22,000 currency, a pen outside Kingston, and two stores at the corner of Harbour and Prices Street in Kingston.

The firm of Rainford, Blundell & Rainford is the subject of a case study in Sheryllynne Haggerty, Merely for Money? Business Culture in the British Atlantic, 1750-1815 (Liverpool University Press, 2012) pp. 181-188.

1. PROB 11/1318/220.

2. Haggerty, Merely for Money p. 188.