Rawnsley was the son of Rev. R. D. B. Rawns­ley, sometime Pre­bend­ary of Lin­coln, Eng­land. He was ed­u­cat­ed at Bal­li­ol Coll­ege, Ox­ford (BA 1875, MA 1883), or­dained an Ang­li­can dea­con in 1875, and priest in 1877. He served as Cur­ate of St. Barn­a­bas, Bris­tol, 1875-77; Vic­ar of Low Wray, Lan­ca­shire, 1878-1883; and Vic­ar of Cros­thwaite, Cum­bria, be­gin­ning in 1883. He be­came Rur­al Dean of Kes­wick in 1883, Hon­o­rary Can­on of Car­lisle in 1891, and Proc­tor in Con­vo­ca­tion in 1905. Rawns­ley was very ac­tive in con­ser­va­tion in the Lake Dis­trict, and en­cour­aged young Bea­trix Pot­ter with her draw­ings, which even­tu­al­ly be­came part of Pe­ter Rab­bit.

After serv­ing 34 years at Cros­thwaite, Rawns­ley re­tired to Gras­mere in 1917. His works in­clude:

• Notes for the Nile, 1892
• Literary As­so­ci­a­tions for the Eng­lish Lakes, 1894
• Memoir of Har­vey Good­win, Bi­shop of Car­lisle, 1896
• Sermons on the Lo­gia, 1897
• Various books of Po­ems and Son­nets

Sources

Hymns

1. Father, Whose Will Is Life and Good
2. Hark! I Hear the Trump­et Sound­ing
3. Lord God, Our Praise We Give
4. Lord Je­su, Who at La­za­rus’ Tomb
5. Lord, Who Gav­est Streams and Fount­ains
6. Now Trump­ets Cease Your Sound
7. Savior, Who Didst Heal­ing Give