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American politician
Richard Beresford
(June 3, 1755 – February 6, 1803) was an American planter and lawyer from
Berkeley County, South Carolina
. He was a delegate for
South Carolina
in the
Confederation Congress
in 1783 and 1784.
Beresford was born near
Charleston, South Carolina
and was
baptized
June 3, 1755. He was educated in South Carolina and in
England
, studying law at the
Middle Temple
in
London
. He became a lawyer in private practice and also engaged in planting, with extensive estates in Berkeley County and
Colleton County
in South Carolina as well as in England.
He took an active part in the
American Revolutionary War
, serving as an officer in the
1st South Carolina Regiment
under General
Isaac Huger
in the
Georgia
campaign in 1778. He was captured at the fall of Charleston in 1780 and imprisoned at
St. Augustine
until 1781, when he was exchanged. He was member of the South Carolina state house of representatives, 1781 and was elected by the South Carolina state general assembly as a member of the privy council in 1782. He was elected the ninth
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
in January 1783, but resigned shortly afterward, having been elected to the Continental Congress. He was a member of the Confederation Congress in 1783 and 1784, after which he resumed planting. He later engaged in literary pursuits and published the
Vigil in Charleston
in 1798. He died in Charleston.
[1]
The Confederation Congress had scheduled to meet at the Maryland State House in November, 1783, to ratify the
Treaty of Paris
ending the American Revolutionary War. However, by mid-January only seven of the thirteen states had sent delegates, which was not enough to ratify the treaty. On January 13, 1784, Beresford, who was ill, was the last delegate to arrive. Soon after his arrival, the vote was taken and on January 14, the Congress ratified the treaty.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"BERESFORD, Richard"
. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
. Retrieved
9 February
2016
.
External links
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