Peter Rainier (Royal Navy officer, born 1741)

Rainier was born in England on 24 November 1741, the grandson of Daniel Regnier, a Huguenot refugee who fled France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the son of merchant Peter Rainier of Sandwich.[1]

He enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1756, at the outset of the Seven Years' War. After a period as an ordinary seaman aboard HMS Oxford, Rainier was transferred to HMS Yarmouth in 1758. He later served aboard Norfolk, and Burford.[1] On 26 May 1768, working as the master of one of his family's merchant ships, Rainier was promoted to lieutenant.[1]

During the American Revolutionary War, Rainier was severely wounded on 8 July 1778, while capturing a large American privateer.[1] He was promoted in rank and went on to become Captain of the 32-gun frigate HMS Astraea. He commanded her on the Jamaica Station from 1786 to 1790.

In 1790, he became the commander of HMS Monarch.[1] On 8 May 1792, George Vancouver named Mount Rainier in modern-day Washington after Captain Rainier:

"The weather was serene and pleasant, and the country continued to exhibit between us and the eastern snowy range the same luxuriant appearance. At is northern extremity, Mount Baker bore by compass N. 22E.; the round snowy mountain, now forming its southern extremity, and which, after my friend, Rear Admiral Rainier, I distinguish by the name of Mount Rainier, bore N(S) 42 E."[2]

In early 1793, Rainier commissioned the 74-gun Suffolk.[1] From 1794 to 1805, Rainier commanded Royal Navy operations on the East Indies Station.[1] During his tenure, large swaths of territory came under British control.[1]

In 1795, Rainier was promoted to Rear-Admiral. Four years later, he was promoted to the rank of vice admiral.[1] He served in the East Indies as Commodore and commander-in-chief of a fleet.[1]

In 1800, he commanded an expedition to Java. On 23 August 1800 Sybille, Daedalus, Centurion, and Braave entered Batavia Roads and captured five Dutch armed vessels in all and destroyed 22 other vessels.[3] The British took one vessel into service and Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball of Daedalus named her HMS Admiral Rainier, and ordered her manned, armed, and equipped.[3] (Admiral Rainier was sold in September 1803.)

In 1805 Rainier returned to England and retired from active duty.[1]

After Rainier's retirement, the ministry continued to consult him and in 1805 was promoted to Admiral of the Blue in the celebratory promotions following the British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.[1] In 1807, he became a Member of Parliament (MP) for Sandwich. He died the following year at his home on Great George Street Westminster,[1] with his nephew, John Spratt Rainier, succeeding him as MP for Sandwich.[4]

Rainier left an estate valued at £250,000, largely prize money gained during his naval career. He was not married, and although the bulk of his estate was divided between his nephews, John and Peter Rainier,[1] ten percent was left to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to be used to reduce the national debt, in acknowledgement of:

...the national establishment of the Royal Navy, in which I have acquired the principal part of the fortune I now have, which has exceeded my merit and pretensions.[5]

There is a memorial to Admiral Rainier in St Mary's Church, Sandwich.[6]