James George Payne Rainsford

James, George Payne Rainsford (1801-60), a historical novelist, was the son of a London physician. After much travelling and discursive reading, he published Richelieu in 1829, and for nearly twenty years continued to produce similar works, the sum-total of which is said to have reached a hundred. Barnley, Philip Augustus, and Henry Masterton were some of the best. They were very popular and profitable to the author. James was made historiographer by William IV., and published A Life of the Black Prince and other historical works. He was British consul in Massachusetts and Virginia for several years, and subsequently at Venice, where he died.