graved by Frederick Bacon; ‘The Return of the Prodigal,’ 1858; ‘The Farewell Sermon,’ 1859, engraved by W. H. Simmons; ‘The Day is done,’ 1860; ‘The Gipsy at the Gate,’ 1862; ‘A Sower went forth to sow,’ 1863; ‘The Doctor's coming,’ 1864, his best work, representing a scene in a gipsy encampment; ‘After Work,’ 1865; ‘'Tis Home where the Heart is,’ 1866; ‘Follow my Leader,’ 1867; ‘Following the Trail’ and ‘The Hearth of his Home,’ 1870; and ‘The Benediction,’ 1871. All his pictures were carefully finished, and were directed to awaken sympathy in favour of that which is kindly in feeling and of good report. Most of them were of a domestic character, and many became deservedly popular. ‘The Parish Beauty’ and ‘The Pastor's Pet’ were engraved by Robert Mitchell; ‘Reading the Litany,’ ‘Sunday Afternoon,’ and ‘The Sunday School,’ by James Scott; ‘Refreshment, Sir?’ by W. H. Egleton; and ‘The Scoffers,’ by H. T. Ryall.
Rankley died at his residence, Clifton Villa, Campden Hill, Kensington, on 7 Dec. 1872, aged 52, and was buried in the St. Marylebone cemetery, Finchley.
[Art Journal, 1873, p. 44; Athenæum, 1872, ii. 776; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of the English School, 1878; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1841–71.]
RANNULF FLAMBARD (d. 1128), minister of William Rufus. [See Flambard.]
RANSFORD, EDWIN (1805–1876), vocalist and actor, was born at Bourton-on-the-Water, near Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire, on 13 March 1805. He first appeared on the stage as an ‘extra’ in the opening chorus at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, and was afterwards engaged in the chorus at Covent Garden. During Charles Kemble's management of Covent Garden he was heard as a baritone in Don Cæsar in the ‘Castle of Andalusia’ on 27 May 1829, and was engaged soon afterwards by Samuel James Arnold for the English Opera House (now the Lyceum). In the autumns of 1829 and 1830 he was at Covent Garden. In 1831 he played leading characters under R. W. Elliston at the Surrey Theatre, where he won great popularity. In 1832 he was with Joe Grimaldi at Sadler's Wells, playing Tom Tuck in Andrew V. Campbell's nautical drama ‘The Battle of Trafalgar,’ in which he made a great hit with S. C. Neukomm's song ‘The Sea.’ At this theatre in 1831 he sustained the part of Captain Cannonade in John Barnett's opera, ‘The Pet of the Petticoats.’ On 3 Nov. 1831 he played, at Drury Lane, Giacomo in Auber's ‘Fra Diavolo,’ then first produced in England. He afterwards fulfilled important engagements at Drury Lane, the Lyceum, and Covent Garden. At Covent Garden he played the Doge of Venice in ‘Othello’ on 25 March 1833, when Edmund Kean made his last appearance on the stage; and Sir Harry in the ‘School for Scandal’ on Charles Kemble's last appearance as Charles Surface. His final theatrical engagement was with Macready at Covent Garden in 1837–8.
After his retirement from the stage Ransford for a time sang at concerts, and then, from 1845 onwards, produced a series of popular musical entertainments, in which he was the chief performer. Among these ventures were ‘Illustrations of Gipsy Life and Character’ (with the words to the songs by Eliza Cook), ‘Tales of the Sea,’ and ‘Songs of Dibdin.’ Ransford was also well known as a composer of songs and glees, and between 1835 and 1876 upwards of fifty published pieces bear his name. For some years he was also in business as a music publisher at Charles Street, Soho Square, and at 2 Princes Street, Cavendish Square, London. He died at 59 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, on 11 July 1876, and was buried at Bourton-on-the-Water on 15 July. In March 1825 he married Hannah, who died on 22 Nov. 1876, aged 71. Among his published songs, in which the words as well as the music were by himself, were: ‘Come, gang awa' wi' me,’ 1840, and ‘Summer is nigh,’ 1842. Under the name of ‘Aquila’ he composed thirteen ‘Sacred Ballads’ (1862–9), and wrote the words of the well-known song, ‘In the Days when we went gipsying.’ He was the author of ‘Jottings—Music in Verse,’ 1863.
[Grove's Dictionary of Music, 1883, iii. 75; Era, 16 July 1876, p. 10.]
RANSOME, ROBERT (1753–1830), agricultural-implement maker born at Wells, Norfolk, in 1753, was son of Richard Ransome, a schoolmaster there. His grandfather, Richard Ransome, was a miller of North Walsham, Norfolk, and an early quaker who suffered frequent imprisonment while on preaching journeys in various parts of England, Ireland, and Holland. He died at Bristol on 8 Nov. 1716.
On leaving school Robert was apprenticed to an ironmonger, and commenced business for himself at Norwich with a small brass-foundry, which afterwards expanded into an iron-foundry. He possessed inventive skill, and as early as 1783 took out a patent for cast-iron roofing plates, and published ‘Directions for Laying Ransome's Patent Cast-iron Coverings,’ printed for the patentees,
