George Rainy

Major recipient of compensation in British Guiana as partner in Sandbach Tinne (q.v.) and its predecessors, resident in British Guiana at the time of compensation and retiring in 1843. He has a recent entry in the ODNB as 'merchant, slave owner and land owner.'

1. Born 06/06/1790 in Scotland, died 09/06/1863. Son of Rev. George Rainy (1734 - 1810) of Aberdeenshire and his wife Ann Robertson. First married Margaret Jessie Louisa Darroch, daughter of Lieut.Gen. Darroch of Gouroch. Margaret died in 1840. He secondly married in 1844 Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. George Haygarth, who was the mother of his son George Haygarth Rainy. Elizabeth died in 1856. He then married Isabella Rudlin, widow of the Rev. George Hingston.

2. 'In the 1861 census, he was at 9 Gloucester Terrace and described as 'fundholder': his wife's name is given as Isabella. Left £160,000 in personalty. Bought Raasay island 1846 for 35,000 guineas. 'Raasay, Inverness-shire and Portman Square [sic] Middlesex' (probate calendar). 'Little is known about his career apart from the fact that he was apparently a partner in Sandbach Tinne of Liverpool. He appears to have retired about 1845. His brother Harry Rainy has an entry in the ODNB as an "expert in forensic medicine."'

3. Will of George Rainy formerly of Raasay in County of Inverness but late of Porchester Terrace who died 09/06/1863 proved 06/07/1863 by Harry Rainy brother, Charles Stuart Parker the nephew and Charles Stuart Parker the younger of University College Oxford the great-nephew, effects under £160,000. George Haygarth Rainy, who died 23/02/1872, in turn left under £100,000: he is described as son of George of St Pancras in his entry recording his matriculation at University College Oxford 18/04/1863 aged 18. Baptism of George Hazgarth [sic] Rainy son of George and Margaret Rainy at Regents Square Park United Reform Church Camden 25/05/1847.

4. The mother of Charles Stewart Parker Tennent (1817-1864), the Scottish brewer, was Christian Rainy (d. 1863), probably the sister of George Rainy (Tennent's father was Hugh Tennent senior (1780-1864), 'originally a West Indies merchant (Midleton & Tennent) in Glasgow').

5. Copies of his letters from Demerara 1828-1832 and Cheltenham (1839) are in the Sandbach, Tinne and Co. collection at Senate House Library, University of London. On 03/12/1819 George Rainy wrote to 'Messrs Sandbach Tinne & Co' requesting details of recent accounts in order to 'make a demand for the compensation for being deprived of the benefit of [...] shipment and consignment,' and added, '[a]t the same time you must be aware that strictly speaking that estate is precluded from shipping to Britain though that could be easily arranged.' In the same letter, George Rainy wrote: 'We have this day in McIrney Parker and Co £300 from G Lawson gg to account of the purchase money of Leonira.' By 1850 the Leonira estate was owned by Sandbach & Tinne in 1860.

6. His sister Ann married Robert Brown of Fairlie (q.v.).

7. Described in J.C. Chevely’s journal as “slow-spoken, he had a sharp visage, high thin nose, and a cold quiet calculating grey eye.”

We are grateful to Jim Brennan and Marc Oxley for their assistance in compiling this entry.

Alston, David. "Rainy, George (1790–1863), merchant, slave owner, and landowner." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 6 Oct. 2016; Accessed 17 Jan. 2020. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-107415; T71/885 British Guiana claim nos. 107, 515, 552 (Plantn Vreyheids (?) and Sheet Anchor), 640 (Prospect), 641 (Little Diamond), 654 (Vriesland), 668 (Javer Beusdeune (?) and Regt Door Zee (?)), 693 (La Jalousie & Fellowship), 694, 701 (Edinburgh), 702 (Leonora), 705 (William), 709 (De Hinderen and Boodes Rust), 712 (Truxen de Vrienden(?)), 804 (Perseverance) and 882; T71/886 British Guiana claim nos. 1037, 1106, 1155, 1272, 1296, 1305, 1393, 1718, 1855 and 1974; T71/887 British Guiana claim nos. 2032, 2138, 2257 and 2268 A&B (Zeelandia).

1. http://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I91294&tree=Fasti [sourced 16 April 2013]. Anonymous descendant of the Douglas family The genealogy of the families of Douglas of Mulderg and Robertson of Kindeace with their descendants (A. M. Ross. Dingwall,1895).

2. William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? 1860- (Volumes 3 and 4, manuscripts in preparation), reference 1863/49. The Probate Calendar indicates Porchester Square rather than Portman Square.

3. National Probate Calendar 1863, 1872; Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database online]; Ancestry.com, London, England, Non-conformist Registers, 1694-1921 [database online].

4. Rubinstein op. cit. reference 1864/61 for Charles Stewart Parker Tennent (who left £212,892).

5. http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=1362&inst_id=14&nv1=search&nv2= [accessed 17/07/2012]. Letter from George Rainy to Messrs Sandbach Tinne & Co., Demerary dated 3rd Decr. 1819, collection of Marc Oxley PHS.

6. http://www.spanglefish.com/slavesandhighlanders/index.asp?pageid=245741 [accessed 17/07/2012].

7. John Cheveley, Journal of John Cheveley [SOAS Library], CWM/LMS/West Indies & British Guiana/Journals/Box 1; Typescript copies of extracts from the journal of John C. Cheveley, clerk with John and William Pattinson Bros, Commission Merchants, Georgetown, British Guiana, 1821-25 [vol. 2, p. 124].