Skip to content ↓

View entry

Back to search results

Name: RAINSFORD, Richard Frederick ISO (Lieut.-Col.)

Birth Date: 7 Jan 1888 St Pancras, London

Death Date: 20 June 1947 Endebess

First Date: 1912

Last Date: 1947

Profession: Police

Area: Kisii, Kitale, 1922 Nakuru, 1925 Nairobi, 1930 Eldoret, 1914 Magadi, 1938 Endebess

Married: In London 18 June 1919 Grace Clara 'Tissie' Coombs b. 17 May 1879 Cardiff, d. 7 Feb 1959 Croydon, Surrey (prev. m. John Griffin Lloyd 1870-1948)

Children: Joan Catherine (Downend) (9 Sep 1921 Nairobi-5 Oct 2004 Pontefract)

Book Reference: HBEA, Police, Moyse, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Red 22, Gazette, Dominion, Nicholls, SS, Leader14, A. Allen, Colonial, Rift Valley, Red Book 1912, LG, Barnes

War Service: Special List

General Information:

Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Trans Nzoia Voters List has him with Grace
Police - Asst. Superintendent R.F. Rainsford was commissioned as a Captain in the KAR and later commanded "B" Company of the 5th Battalion in Turkana. .......... Capt. Rainsford returned to the Police after the Armistice. Later he was promoted Superintendent, and awarded the Imperial Service Order in recognition of his long and meritorious service. ............. In 1925, owing to a considerable amount of unrest in Jubaland, the Government considered it imperative to despatch a force there to take repressive measures against the Mohamed Zubeir Somalis. The KAR embarked for Kismayu in March. Capt. R.F. Rainsford (Asst. Superintendent), two European Inspectors and 100 African Police went with them to form a Police column under the command of the OC, KAR. Another European Inspector with 25 African Police were detailed to carry out patrols southwards along the Tana River. .............. In 1928 cattle thieving, especially in areas adjacent to the pastoral tribes, also began to increase. It was believed that many of the cattle stolen from farms on the Uasin Gishu Plateau, Lumbwa and the Upper Rift Valley had been driven into the extensive forest region to the north of Londiani. A round-up was organized. Superintendent R.F. Rainsford was placed in charge of the operation and assisted by Superintendent E.K. Catchpole, Asst. Superintendents H.C. Croysdale and J.G. Leslie, 8 other European officers, some 200 African Police, and a few African guides and trackers. The forest was encircled and entry started simultaneously from 9 different points on its fringes. The operation proved highly successful. On the Lumbwa side 2,500 head of cattle were rounded up, and on the Eldama Ravine side 2,000 head were found with the Wanderobo when they should not have had more than about 700. It had been tough but rewarding work, while the cattle-rustlers were taught a salutary lesson.  
Red 25 - Hon. Range Officer, Kenya Civil Service Rifle Club; Chairman, Kenya Rifle Association
Gazette - 17/6/14 - Richard Frederick Rainsford - appt. Asst. Superintendent of Police
Gazette - 11/8/1915 - Appt. - EA Police (Military Service Battalion) - To be Lieutenant (Temporary) - Asst. Superintendent Richard Frederick Rainsford.
Dominion - Superintendent of Police - 1930
Nicholls - Social life was not always class-ridden. People happily intermingled - for example, F.R. Rainsford of the Nakuru Police had no qualms about calling on Lord Francis Scott accompanied by his wife Tissie and her friend Tossie, both of them Gaiety Girls.
Soldier Settlement Scheme after WW1 - Class B - Capt. R.F. Rainsford, King's Head Hotel, Harrow and 66, Oseney Crest, Camden Road - Farm No. 44
Cem - Kitale Cemetery - died 20 June 1947
A. Allen - Rainsford retired in 1934 and was rewarded with the ISO the following year. The Kenya Police Review 1950, Chapter VIII, states - "A former Superintendent of the Force who was retired and living at Endebess, Capt R.F. Rainsford, was appointed DPM in East Africa, with the rank of Lt.-Col. Retiring at the end of the war he returned to his farm where he died in 1948.
Colonial 1912 - Asst. Inspector of Police
Rift Valley - Member of the Rift Valley Sports Club - Jan 1929 - Elected - 12 Dec 1921 - R.F. Rainsford
Red Book 1912 - R.F. Rainsford - Nairobi
Red Book 1912 - Police Dept. - Assistant Inspector London
Gazette - 1 May 1917 - Despatch from the Governor of the EA Protectorate bringing to notice the undermentioned names for valuable services during the operations against the Turkana, a tribe resident on the Northern Frontier of the East Africa and Uganda Protectorates, whose open hostility to government since the outbreak of war rendered a punitive expedition necessary.
Kitale cemetery - Richard Frederick Rainsford - died 20 Jun 1947, b. 7 Jan 1888: 'sacred to the memory / of / Lt Col R F Rainsford I.S.O. / died 20th June 1947'
HBEA 1912 - Asst. Inspector of Police, Kisii.
Police - Company Commander in the EA Police Service Battalion in 1914.
Moyse - 1916 - at Kalosia on Kerio River - O.C. troops, Turkana.
KAD 1922 Asst. Superintendent of Police, Nakuru
Gazette - 18/7/1917 - Honours - Mentioned in Despatches - Lieut. R F Rainsford, Police Service Battalion
See Sitrep LVI, Dec 1920 for Cecil Wiilliam Allen arrest and trial

Back to search results