William Rainsborough

Captain William Rainsborough (11 June 1587 – 16 Feb 1642) was an English Captain and Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy, English ambassador to Morocco and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642.

Captain William Rainsborowe
Born	11 June 1587 St Mary's Whitechapel London, England
Died	16 February 1642 (aged 54) St Katharine's by the Tower, Wapping, London
Resting place	St John's Church, Wapping, London England
Occupation	Member of Parliament, Sea Mariner, Businessman

Naval expeditions

On the orders of Charles I of England, Rainsborough led a successful naval expedition against the Barbary corsairs of Salé in North West Morocco in June 1637. His exploits were hailed in a court masque designed by Inigo Jones[1] For his services to end white slavery Rainsborough was offered a hereditary knighthood, which he declined, and was presented with a Gold Chain and Medal by Charles I.[2] Captain Rainsborough's Emblem was a Saracen's head crest. The Saracen Head[3] as interpreted as 'the head of the foreigner'; the foreigner being the much-feared pirates of the north African coast. Usually referred to as Turks, these marauders were in the white slavery business. This emblem represented Captain Rainsborough's success at ending White Slavery against the Barbary pirates in Morocco in 1637.

Captain William Rainsborowe's Ship 1638

MP for Aldeburgh Suffolk 1640

In April 1640, Rainsborough was elected Member of Parliament for Aldeburgh in the county of Suffolk in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected for Aldeburgh in November 1640 for the Long Parliament and held the seat until his death in 1642.[4]

Death 1642

Rainsborough died in 1642 and was buried at St Katharine's by the Tower on 16 February 1642.[5]

Father of Thomas Rainsborough

Rainsborough married Judith Horton, daughter of Renold and Joane Horton. Their sons Thomas Rainsborough and William Rainsborowe, two influential figures in the English Civil War, fought for the Roundheads.[6]

Gallery

• 
  London Bridge in 1630s England

[7]

References

1. Tinniswood, Adrian (2011). Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the 17th-Century Mediterranean. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0099523864.
2. Pinkerton, John (1790). The Medallic History of England to the Revolution. London.
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/sn9JsuYlSBGS4igDhaeYpA
4. Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
5. Williams, William Retlaw (1897). The Parliamentary History of the county of Worcester. p. 13.
6. Waters, Henry Fitz-Gilbert & Greenwood, Isaac John (1886). The Rainborowe Family. ISBN 9781113227737.
7. Rainsborough,Captain William ."1. Rainsborough, Col William (Charlestown, Mass, 1639)" London,14 October Retrieved on 14 October 2014.

Further reading

• Andrews, Kenneth R. (1991). Ships, money, and politics : seafaring and naval enterprise in the reign of Charles I. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521401166.
• Tinniswood, Adrian (2013). The Rainborowes: Pirates, Puritans and a Family's Quest for the Promised Land. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0224091480.