Beresford, Richard

Beresford, Richard, a Delegate from South Carolina; born near Charleston, St. Thomas and St. Denis Parish, Berkeley County, S.C., in 1755; educated in South Carolina and in England; studied law at the Middle Temple in London; was admitted to the bar in 1773 and practiced in Charleston, S.C.; engaged in planting, with extensive estates in Berkeley and Colleton Counties, S.C., and in England; took an active part in the Revolution, serving Under General Huger in the Georgia campaign in 1778; was captured at the fall of Charleston in 1780 and imprisoned at St. Augustine until 1781, when he was exchanged; member of the State house of representatives in 1781; elected by the State general assembly a member of the privy council in 1782; elected Lieutenant Governor in January 1783, but resigned shortly afterwards, having been elected to Congress; Member of the Continental Congress from May 30, 1783, to June 3, 1784; resumed planting; later engaged in literary pursuits; published the Vigil in Charleston in 1798; died in Charleston, S.C., February 6, 1803.