Robert Clive
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2017) |
Governor of the Presidency of Fort William | |
---|---|
In office 1757–1760 | |
Preceded by | Roger Drake as President |
Succeeded by | Henry Vansittart |
In office 1764–1767 | |
Preceded by | Henry Vansittart |
Succeeded by | Harry Verelst |
Personal details | |
Born | Styche, Shropshire, England | 29 September 1725
Died | 22 November 1774 (aged 49) London, England |
Spouse | |
Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive,
Blocking impending French mastery of India, Clive improvised a 1751 military expedition that ultimately enabled the EIC to adopt the French strategy of indirect rule via puppet government. Hired by the EIC to return (1755) to India, Clive conspired to secure the company's trade interests by overthrowing the ruler of Bengal, the richest state in India. Back in England from 1760 to 1765, he used the wealth accumulated from India to secure (1762) an
Clive's actions on behalf of the EIC have made him one of Britain's most controversial
Early life
Robert Clive was born at Styche, the Clive family estate, near Market Drayton in Shropshire, on 29 September 1725 to Richard Clive and Rebecca (née Gaskell) Clive.[15] The family had held the small estate since the time of Henry VII and had a lengthy history of public service: members of the family included a Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland under Henry VIII, and a member of the Long Parliament. Robert's father, who supplemented the estate's modest income by practising as a lawyer, also served in Parliament for many years, representing Montgomeryshire.[16] Robert was their eldest son of thirteen children; he had seven sisters and five brothers, six of whom died in infancy.[17]
Clive's father was known to have a temper, which the boy apparently inherited. For reasons that are unknown, Clive was sent to live with his mother's sister in Manchester while still a toddler. The site is now Hope Hospital. Biographer Robert Harvey suggests that this move was made because Clive's father was busy in London trying to provide for the family.[18] Daniel Bayley, the sister's husband, reported that the boy was "out of measure addicted to fighting".[19][20] He was a regular troublemaker in the schools to which he was sent.[21] When he was older he and a gang of teenagers established a protection racket that vandalised the shops of uncooperative merchants in Market Drayton. [Note : the original of these stories first occurs in John Malcolm's 1836 biography which say these were verbal anecdotes given to him, third hand, in 1827, 53 years after Robert Clive's death] the Clive also exhibited fearlessness at an early age. He is reputed to have climbed the tower of St Mary's Parish Church in Market Drayton and perched on a gargoyle, frightening those down below.[22]
When Clive was nine his aunt died, and, after a brief stint in his father's cramped London quarters, he returned to Shropshire. There he attended the Market Drayton Grammar School, where his unruly behaviour (and an improvement in the family's fortunes) prompted his father to send him to Merchant Taylors' School in London. His bad behaviour continued, and he was then sent to a trade school in Hertfordshire to complete a basic education.[17] Despite his early lack of scholarship, in his later years he devoted himself to improving his education. He eventually developed a distinctive writing style, and a speech in the House of Commons was described by William Pitt as the most eloquent he had ever heard.[16]
First journey to India (1744–1753)
In 1744 Clive's father acquired for him a position as a "factor" or company agent in the service of the
Political situation in south India
The India Clive arrived in was divided into a number of successor states to the
The relationship between the Europeans in India was influenced by a series of wars and treaties in Europe, and by competing commercial rivalry for trade on the subcontinent. Through the 17th and early 18th centuries, the French, Dutch, Portuguese, and British had vied for control of various trading posts, and for trading rights and favour with local Indian rulers. The European merchant companies raised bodies of troops to protect their commercial interests and latterly to influence local politics to their advantage. Military power was rapidly becoming as important as commercial acumen in securing India's valuable trade, and increasingly it was used to appropriate territory and to collect land revenue.[28]
First Carnatic War
In 1720 France effectively nationalised the
In the conflict, Clive's bravery came to the attention of Major Stringer Lawrence, who arrived in 1748 to take command of the British troops at Fort St. David.[35] During the 1748 Siege of Pondicherry Clive distinguished himself in successfully defending a trench against a French sortie: one witness of the action wrote Clive's "platoon, animated by his exhortation, fired again with new courage and great vivacity upon the enemy."[36] The siege was lifted in October 1748 with the arrival of the monsoons, but the war came to a conclusion with the arrival in December of news of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Madras was returned to the British as part of the peace agreement in early 1749.[37]
Tanjore expedition
The end of the war between France and Britain did not, however, end hostilities in India. Even before news of the peace arrived in India, the British had sent an expedition to
On the expedition's return the process of restoring Madras was completed. Company officials, concerned about the cost of the military, slashed its size, denying Clive a promotion to captain in the process. Lawrence procured for Clive a position as the commissary at Fort St. George, a potentially lucrative posting (its pay included commissions on all supply contracts).[40]
Second Carnatic War
The death of
Upon the death of Asaf Jah I, his son,
Robert Clive was not in southern India for many of these events. In 1750 Clive was afflicted with some sort of nervous disorder, and was sent north to Bengal to recuperate.[42] It was there that he met and befriended Robert Orme, who became his principal chronicler and biographer. Clive returned to Madras in 1751.
Siege of Arcot
In the summer of 1751, Chanda Sahib left
Madras and Fort St. David could supply him with only 200 Europeans, 300 sepoys, and three small cannons; furthermore, of the eight officers who led them, four were civilians like Clive, and six had never been in action. Clive, hoping to surprise the small garrison at Arcot, made a series of forced marches, including some under extremely rainy conditions. Although he did fail to achieve surprise, the garrison, hearing of the march being made under such arduous conditions, opted to abandon the fort and town; Clive occupied Arcot without firing a shot.
The fort was a rambling structure with a dilapidated wall a mile long (too long for his small force to effectively man), and it was surrounded by the densely packed housing of the town. Its moat was shallow or dry, and some of its towers were insufficiently strong to use as artillery mounts. Clive did the best he could to prepare for the onslaught he expected. He made a foray against the fort's former garrison, encamped a few miles away, which had no significant effect. When the former garrison was reinforced by 2,000 men Chanda Sahib sent from Trichinopoly it reoccupied the town on 15 September. That night Clive led most of his force out of the fort and launched a surprise attack on the besiegers. Because of the darkness, the besiegers had no idea how large Clive's force was, and they fled in panic.
The next day Clive learned that heavy guns he had requested from Madras were approaching, so he sent most of his garrison out to escort them into the fort. That night the besiegers, who had spotted the movement, launched an attack on the fort. With only 70 men in the fort, Clive once again was able to disguise his small numbers, and sowed sufficient confusion against his enemies that multiple assaults against the fort were successfully repulsed. That morning the guns arrived, and Chanda Sahib's men again retreated.
Over the next week Clive and his men worked feverishly to improve the defences, aware that another 4,000 men, led by Chanda Sahib's son Raza Sahib and accompanied by a small contingent of French troops, was on its way. (Most of these troops came from Pondicherry, not Trichinopoly, and thus did not have the effect Clive desired of raising that siege.) Clive was forced to reduce his garrison to about 300 men, sending the rest of his force to Madras in case the enemy army decided to go there instead. Raza Sahib arrived at Arcot, and on 23 September occupied the town. That night Clive launched a daring attack against the French artillery, seeking to capture their guns. The attack very nearly succeeded in its object, but was reversed when enemy sniper fire tore into the small British force. Clive himself was targeted on more than one occasion; one man pulled him down and was shot dead. The affair was a serious blow: 15 of Clive's men were killed, and another 15 wounded.
Over the next month the besiegers slowly tightened their grips on the fort. Clive's men were subjected to frequent sniper attacks and disease, lowering the garrison size to 200. He was heartened to learn that some 6,000 Maratha forces had been convinced to come to his relief, but that they were awaiting payment before proceeding. The approach of this force prompted Raza Sahib to demand Clive's surrender; Clive's response was an immediate rejection, and he further insulted Raza Sahib by suggesting that he should reconsider sending his rabble of troops against a British-held position. The siege finally reached critical when Raza Sahib launched an all-out assault against the fort on 14 November. Clive's small force maintained its composure, and established killing fields outside the walls of the fort where the attackers sought to gain entry. Several hundred attackers were killed and many more wounded, while Clive's small force suffered only four British and two sepoy casualties.
The historian
... the commander who had to conduct the defence ... was a young man of five and twenty, who had been bred as a book-keeper ... Clive ... had made his arrangements, and, exhausted by fatigue, had thrown himself on his bed. He was awakened by the alarm, and was instantly at his post ... After three desperate onsets, the besiegers retired behind the ditch. The struggle lasted about an hour ... the garrison lost only five or six men.[43]
His conduct during the siege made Clive famous in Europe. The Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder described Clive, who had received no formal military training whatsoever, as the "heaven-born general", endorsing the generous appreciation of his early commander, Major Lawrence. The Court of Directors of the East India Company voted him a sword worth £700, which he refused to receive unless Lawrence was similarly honoured.
Clive and Major Lawrence were able to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion. In 1754, the first of the provisional Carnatic treaties was signed between Thomas Saunders, the Company president at Madras, and
Margaret Maskelyne had set out to find Clive who reportedly had fallen in love with her portrait. When she arrived Clive was a national hero. They were married at
Clive also briefly sat as
Second journey to India (1755–1760)
In July 1755, Clive returned to India
Clive, now promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the British Army, took part in the capture of the fortress of Gheriah, a stronghold of the Maratha Admiral Tuloji Angre. The action was led by Admiral James Watson and the British had several ships available, some Royal troops and some Maratha allies. The overwhelming strength of the joint British and Maratha forces ensured that the battle was won with few losses. A fleet surgeon, Edward Ives, noted that Clive refused to take any part of the treasure divided among the victorious forces as was custom at the time.[50]
Fall and recapture of Calcutta (1756–57)
Following this action Clive headed to his post at Fort St. David and it was there he received news of twin disasters for the British. Early in 1756, Siraj ud-Daulah had succeeded his grandfather Alivardi Khan as Nawab of Bengal. In June, Clive received news that the new Nawab had attacked the British at Kasimbazar and shortly afterwards on 20 June he had taken the fort at Calcutta. The losses to the Company because of the fall of Calcutta were estimated by investors at £2,000,000 (equivalent to £320,000,000 in 2021).[citation needed] Those British who were captured were placed in a punishment cell which became infamous as the Black Hole of Calcutta. In stifling summer heat, it was reported that 43 of the 64 prisoners died as a result of suffocation or heat stroke.[51][52] While the Black Hole became infamous in Britain, it is debatable whether the Nawab was aware of the incident.[53]
By Christmas 1756, as no response had been received to diplomatic letters to the Nawab, Admiral Charles Watson and Clive were dispatched to attack the Nawab's army and remove him from Calcutta by force. Their first target was the fortress of Baj-Baj which Clive approached by land while Admiral Watson bombarded it from the sea. The fortress was quickly taken with minimal British casualties. Shortly afterwards, on 2 January 1757, Calcutta itself was taken with similar ease.[54]
Approximately a month later, on 3 February 1757, Clive encountered the army of the Nawab itself. For two days, the army marched past Clive's camp to take up a position east of Calcutta. Sir Eyre Coote, serving in the British forces, estimated the enemy's strength as 40,000 cavalry, 60,000 infantry and thirty cannon. Even allowing for overestimation this was considerably more than Clive's force of approximately 540 British infantry, 600 Royal Navy sailors, 800 local sepoys, fourteen field guns and no cavalry. The British forces attacked the Nawab's camp during the early morning hours of 5 February 1757. In this battle, unofficially called the 'Calcutta Gauntlet', Clive marched his small force through the entire Nawab's camp, despite being under heavy fire from all sides. By noon, Clive's force broke through the besieging camp and arrived safely at Fort William. During the assault, around one tenth of the British attackers became casualties. (Clive reported his losses at 57 killed and 137 wounded.) While technically not a victory in military terms, the sudden British assault intimidated the Nawab. He sought to make terms with Clive, and surrendered control of Calcutta on 9 February, promising to compensate the East India Company for damages suffered and to restore its privileges.
War with Siraj Ud Daulah
As Britain and France were
Clive employed Umichand, a rich Bengali trader, as an agent between Mir Jafar and the British officials. Umichand threatened to betray Clive unless he was guaranteed, in the agreement itself, £300,000 (equivalent to £47,500,000 in 2021). To dupe him a fictitious agreement was shown to him with a clause to this effect. Admiral Watson refused to sign it. Clive deposed later to the House of Commons that, "to the best of his remembrance, he gave the gentleman who carried it leave to sign his name upon it; his lordship never made any secret of it; he thinks it warrantable in such a case, and would do it again a hundred times; he had no interested motive in doing it, and did it with a design of disappointing the expectations of a rapacious man."[16]
Plassey
The whole hot season of 1757 was spent in negotiations with the Nawab of Bengal. In the middle of June Clive began his march from Chandannagar, with the British in boats and the sepoys along the right bank of the Hooghly River. During the rainy season, the Hooghly is fed by the overflow of the Ganges to the north through three streams, which in the hot months are nearly dry. On the left bank of the Bhagirathi, the most westerly of these, 100 miles (160 km) above Chandernagore, stands Murshidabad, the capital of the Mughal viceroys of Bengal. Some miles farther down is the field of Plassey, then an extensive grove of mango trees.[16]
On 21 June 1757, Clive arrived on the bank opposite Plassey, in the midst of the first outburst of monsoon rain. His whole army amounted to 1,100 Europeans and 2,100 sepoy troops, with nine field-pieces. The Nawab had drawn up 18,000 horse, 50,000-foot and 53 pieces of heavy ordnance, served by French artillerymen. For once in his career Clive hesitated, and called a council of sixteen officers to decide, as he put it, "whether in our present situation, without assistance, and on our own bottom, it would be prudent to attack the Nawab, or whether we should wait till joined by some country (Indian) power." Clive himself headed the nine who voted for delay; Major
After heavy rain, Clive's 3,200 men and the nine guns crossed the river and took possession of the grove and its tanks of water, while Clive established his headquarters in a hunting lodge. On 23 June, the engagement took place and lasted the whole day, during which remarkably little actual fighting took place. Gunpowder for the cannons of the Nawab was not well protected from rain. That impaired those cannons. Except for the 40 Frenchmen and the guns they worked, the Indian side could do little to reply to the British cannonade (after a spell of rain), which, with the 39th Regiment, scattered the host, inflicting on it a loss of 500 men. Clive had already made a secret agreement with aristocrats in Bengal, including
Clive lost hardly any European troops; in all 22
In this extraction of wealth Clive followed a usage fully recognised by the company, although this was the source of future corruption which Clive was later sent to India again to correct. The company itself acquired revenue of £100,000 (equivalent to £14,300,000 in 2021) a year, and a contribution towards its losses and military expenditure of £1,500,000 sterling (equivalent to £210,000,000 in 2021). Mir Jafar further discharged his debt to Clive by afterwards presenting him with the quit-rent of the company's lands in and around Calcutta, amounting to an annuity of £27,000 (equivalent to £3,900,000 in 2021) for life, and leaving him by will the sum of £70,000 (equivalent to £10,000,000 in 2021), which Clive devoted to the army.[16]
Further campaigns
Battle of Condore
While busy with the civil administration, Clive continued to follow up his military success. He sent Major Coote in pursuit of the French almost as far as
Mughals
Clive came into direct contact with the Mughal himself, for the first time, a meeting which would prove beneficial in his later career.
Prince Ali Gauhar was welcomed and protected by
Prince Ali Gauhar successfully advanced as far as
Dutch aggression
While Clive was preoccupied with fighting the French, the Dutch directors of the outpost at
Meanwhile, Clive improved the organisation and drill of the
The long-term outcome of Plassey was to place a very heavy revenue burden upon Bengal. The company sought to extract the maximum revenue possible from the peasantry to fund military campaigns, and corruption was widespread amongst its officials. Mir Jafar was compelled to engage in extortion on a vast scale[citation needed] in order to replenish his treasury, which had been emptied by the company's demand for an indemnity of 2.8 crores of rupees (£3 million).[56]
Return to Great Britain
In 1760, the 35-year-old Clive returned to Great Britain with a fortune of at least £300,000 (equivalent to £48,300,000 in 2021) and the
During the three years that Clive remained in Great Britain, he sought a political position, chiefly that he might influence the course of events in India, which he had left full of promise. He had been well received at court, was elevated to the peerage as Baron Clive of
Clive set himself to reform the home system of the East India Company, and began a bitter dispute with the chairman of the
Third journey to India
On 11 April 1765, Clive's ship docked at Madras. Upon learning of
Clive had now an opportunity of repeating in
Mughal Firman
In return for the Awadhian provinces Clive secured from the emperor one of the most important documents in British history in India, effectively granting title of Bengal to Clive. It appears in the records as "
On the same date Clive obtained not only an imperial charter for the company's possessions in the Carnatic, completing the work he began at Arcot, but a third firman for the highest of all the lieutenancies of the empire, that of the Deccan itself. This fact is mentioned in a letter from the secret committee of the court of directors to the Madras government, dated 27 April 1768. The British presence in India was still tiny compared to the number and strength of the princes and people of India, but also compared to the forces of their ambitious French, Dutch and Danish rivals. Clive had this in mind when he penned his last advice to the directors, as he finally left India in 1767:[16]
"We are sensible that, since the acquisition of the dewany, the power formerly belonging to the soubah of those provinces is totally, in fact, vested in the East India Company. Nothing remains to him but the name and shadow of authority. This name, however, this shadow, it is indispensably necessary we should seem to venerate."[16]
Attempts at administrative reform
Having thus founded the Empire of British India, Clive sought to put in place a strong administration. The salaries of civil servants were increased, the acceptance of gifts from Indians was forbidden, and Clive exacted covenants under which participation in the inland trade was stopped. Unfortunately this had very little impact in reducing corruption, which remained widespread until the days of Warren Hastings. Clive's military reforms were more effective. He put down a mutiny of the British officers, who chose to resent the veto against receiving presents and the reduction of batta (extra pay) at a time when two Maratha armies were marching on Bengal. His reorganisation of the army, on the lines of that which he had begun after Plassey, neglected during his absence in Great Britain, subsequently attracted the admiration of Indian officers. He divided the whole army into three brigades, making each a complete force, in itself equal to any single Indian army that could be brought against it.[62][63]
Clive was also instrumental in making the company virtual master of North India by introducing his policy of "Dual system of government". According to the new arrangement enforced by him, the company became liable only for revenue affairs of Bengal (Diwani) and
Retirement and death
Clive left India for the last time in February 1767. In 1768, he lived at the Chateau de Larzac in Pézenas, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. Local tradition is that he introduced local bakers to a sweet pastry, Petit pâté de Pézenas, and that he (more obviously, his chef) had brought the recipe from India as a refined version of the savoury keema naan.[65] Pézenas is known for such delicacies.
Later in 1768, Clive was elected a
In 1769, he acquired the house and gardens of Claremont near Esher in Surrey, and commissioned Capability Brown to remodel the garden and house.
In 1772 Parliament opened an inquiry into the company's practices in India. Clive's political opponents turned these hearings into attacks on Clive. Questioned about some of the large sums of money he had received while in India, Clive pointed out that they were not contrary to accepted company practice, and defended his behaviour by stating "I stand astonished at my own moderation" given opportunities for greater gain. The hearings highlighted the need for reform of the company; a vote to censure Clive for his actions failed. Later in 1772, Clive was invested Knight of the Bath (eight years after he had been made knight bachelor),[59] and was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire.
A great famine between 1769 and 1773 reduced the population of Bengal by a third. It was argued that the activities and aggrandisement of company officials caused the famine, particularly abuse of trade monopoly and land tax used for the personal benefit of company officials.[67][68] These revelations and subsequent debates in Parliament reduced Clive's political popularity.[citation needed]
Clive continued to be involved in Parliamentary discussions on company reforms. In 1773, General
On 22 November 1774 Clive died, aged 49, at his Berkeley Square home. His death was caused by a cut to his throat from a penknife he held. The manner of his death has long been the subject of controversy. No inquest was carried out, the absence of which caused contemporary newspapers to report his death as due to an apoplectic fit or stroke.[69][70] 20th-century biographer, John Watney, concluded: "He did not die from a self-inflicted wound ... He died as he severed his jugular with a blunt paper knife brought on by an overdose of drugs".[71] While Clive left no suicide note, Samuel Johnson wrote that he "had acquired his fortune by such crimes that his consciousness of them impelled him to cut his own throat".[72] Clive's demise has been linked to his history of depression and to opium addiction, but the likely immediate impetus was excruciating pain resulting from illness (he was known to suffer from gallstones) which he had been attempting to abate with opium [citation needed]. According to William Dalrymple, Clive suffered from acute depression from an early age, and tried to commit suicide twice in his youth. During his Indian stint also depression troubled him. He was morose, and spoke less. He was violent, ruthless, racist, and an mentally unstable sociopath who became a corporate predator. His mental instability didn't become better even after his return to Britain and he ended up cutting his own wrist.[73] Shortly beforehand, he had been offered and declined command of British forces in North America.[74] He was buried in St Margaret's Parish Church at Moreton Say, near his birthplace in Shropshire. After his death, a satire in a London newspaper drew him as the 'Lord Vulture', picking the bones of the Indian dead, perhaps due to the Bengal famines.[73]
Clive was awarded an Irish peerage in 1762, created Baron Clive of Plassey, County Clare; he bought lands in County Limerick and County Clare, Ireland, naming part of his lands near Limerick City, Plassey. Following Irish independence, these lands became state property. In the 1970s a technical college, later the University of Limerick, was built at Plassey.
Family
On 18 February 1753 in Madras, Clive married Margaret Maskelyne (d. 28 December 1817[42]),[42] sister of the Rev. Dr Nevil Maskelyne, fifth Astronomer Royal. They had nine children:
- Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis (b. 7 March 1754, d. 16 May 1839)
- Rebecca Clive (b. 15 September 1760, bapt 10 October 1760 Moreton Say, d. December 1795, married in 1780 to Lt-Gen John Robinson of Denston Hall Suffolk, MP (d. 1798.)
- Charlotte Clive (b. 19 January 1762, d. unm 20 October 1795)
- Margaret Clive (bapt 18 September 1763 Condover, Shropshire, d. June 1814, married 11 April 1780 Lt-Col Lambert Theodore Walpole (d. in Wexford Rebellion 1798)
- Elizabeth Clive (bapt 18 November 1764 Condover, d. young)
- Richard Clive (d. young)
- Robert Clive (d. young)
- Robert Clive Jnr (b. 14 August 1769, d. unm 28 July 1833), Lt-Col.
- Jane Clive (d. young)
Criticism
Clive's actions have been criticised by modern historians due to actions in India, particularly his involvement in the
I shall only say that such a scene of anarchy, confusion, bribery, corruption, and extortion was never seen or heard of in any country but Bengal; nor did such and so many fortunes acquire in so unjust and rapacious a manner. The three provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa producing a clear revenue of £3 million sterling, have been under the absolute management of the company's servants, ever since Mir Jafar's restoration to the subahship; and they have, both civil and military, exacted and levied contributions from every man of power and consequence, from the Nawab down to the lowest zamindar.
In January 2021, the private school that Clive attended,
In light of criticism of Clive's legacy, in 2020 Haberdashers' Adams school in Newport, Shropshire announced that Clive House was to be renamed "Owen House" (after the Shropshire poet Wilfred Owen).[81]
Legacy
- Robert Clive's desk from his time at Market Drayton Grammar School is on display at Market Drayton museum complete with his carved initials. The town also has a Clive Road.
- Robert Clive's pet Aldabra giant tortoise died on 23 March 2006 in the Kolkata zoo. The tortoise, whose name was "Adwaita" (meaning the "One and Only" in Bengali), appeared to be 150–250 years old. Adwaita had been in the zoo since the 1870s and the zoo's documentation showed that he came from Clive's estate in India.[82]
- A statue of Clive stands in the main square in the market town of Shrewsbury, as well as a later one in King Charles Street near St James's Park, London.
- Clive is a Senior Girls house at the Duke of York's Royal Military School, where all houses are named after prominent military figures.
- Clive was a house at Haberdashers' Adams school in Newport, Shropshire which in 2021 was renamed Owen house, after the poet and soldier Wilfred Owen who was born near Oswestry in Shropshire. This follows criticism of Robert Clive in light of the George Floyd protests.
- Clive Road, in West Dulwich, London, commemorates Baron Clive[83] despite being so named close to a century after his death. Following the completion of the relocation of The Crystal Palace from Hyde Park to what is now Upper Norwood in 1854, the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway was opened on 10 June 1854 to cope with crowds visiting the Crystal Palace. This led to a huge increase in employment in the area and a subsequent increase in the building of residential properties. Many of the new roads were named after eminent figures in British imperial history, such as Robert Clive.
- There is a settlement[.
- Clive's coat of arms can be seen (impaled with his wife's) in relief in the pediment at Claremont in Esher, Surrey, which Clive had rebuilt.
- A bestselling children's novel, G. A. Henty's With Clive in India: Or, the Beginnings of an Empire (1884), celebrates Clive's life and career from a pro-British point of view.
- R. J. Minney's stage play Clive of India (1933) portrays the life of Clive, particularly focusing on his victory at the Battle of Plassey. It was based on a biography of Clive that Minney had written two years earlier.[84]
- The 1935 film Clive of India, based on Minney's play, starred Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, and Clive's descendant Colin Clive.[85]
- "Clive" was a house at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, where he was a student for seven years before his expulsion. Members were distinguished by their red striped ties. In January 2021 the house was renamed after former pupil and sportsman John Raphael.[86]
- Robert Clive established the first slaughterhouse in India, in Calcutta in 1760.[87]
- "Clive of India" is a brand of curry powder manufactured in Australia by McKenzie's Foods.
- With the re-capture of Calcutta by Clive in 1756, the cultivation of poppies for the Imperial China.[88]
- Clive is responsible for opening the first organized brothel within the Army cantonment of Calcutta. He was not interested in eradication of venereal diseases. However, two properties in central Calcutta owned by women named Ishwari and Bhobi, whom the Company identified as prostitutes, were seized in 1753.[89]
- Robert Browning's 1880 poem Clive recounts a fictional episode in which Clive, as a young clerk, duels a card-sharping soldier. Clive shoots and misses; the cheat then admits his crime and spares Clive's life. The poem's narrator, and those watching the duel, initially believe that the episode shows Clive's courage in standing up honestly; but Clive rebukes them that the magnanimous cheat showed far more honour. The poem largely focuses on the relationship between courage and fear, and closes with an allusion to Clive's suicide ("Clive's worst deed – we'll hope condoned").
Notes
- ISBN 978-1-77545-628-5. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ISBN 9780347000086. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ^ "Hundreds sign petition to remove 'Clive of India' statue in UK". India Today. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ^ He "was celebrated in so many subsequent histories as the founder of 'British India.'" Emma Rothschild, The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth-Century History (Princeton UP, 2011) p. 45.
- ^ C. Brad Faught, Clive: Founder of British India (2013)
- ^ Lord Clive: The Founder of the British Empire in India, a Drama in Five Acts. St. Joseph's Industrial School Press. 1913.
- ISBN 9780312263829.
- ^ "Robert Clive".
- ^ "Robert Clive (1725–74) | Statue by John Tweed, 1912".
- ^ Sibree, Bron (19 September 2019). "The Anarchy: how the East India Company looted India, and became too big to fail, explored by William Dalrymple". Post Magazine (Book review).
- ^ Clive of India, by John Watney, published 1974, p.149
- ^ Spear, T.G Percival (1 March 2023). "Robert Clive - Clive's Administrative Achievements".
- ^ "CLIVE, Robert (1725–74), of Styche Hall, nr. Market Drayton, Salop; subsequently of Walcot Park, Salop; Claremont, Surr.; and Oakley Park, Salop". The History of Parliament.
- ^ "Robert Clive – Biography, papers and letters written by him". britishonlinearchives.co.uk. British Onlive Archives. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Arbuthnot, p. 1
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Chisholm 1911.
- ^ a b Harvey (1998), p. 11
- ^ Harvey (1998), p. 10
- ^ Malleson 1893, p. 9.
- ^ Arbuthnot,[worth noting this is being written of a 6 year old toddler] p. 2
- ^ Malleson 1893, p. 10.
- ^ Treasure, p. 196
- ^ Harvey (1998), pp. 18–21
- ^ Harvey (1998), pp. 23–24
- ^ a b Harvey (1998), p. 30
- ^ Harvey (1998), pp. 24–29
- ^ Malleson 1893, pp. 16–32.
- ^ Harvey (1998), pp. 29–30
- ^ Harvey (1998), p. 31
- ^ Malleson 1893, p. 35.
- ^ Harvey (1998), pp. 31–34
- ^ Malleson 1893, p. 38.
- ^ Harvey (1998), pp. 35–36
- ^ Harvey (1998), p. 39
- ^ a b Harvey (1998), p. 41
- ^ Harvey (1998), p. 42
- ^ Malleson 1893, pp. 40–41.
- ^ Harvey (1998), p. 46
- ^ Harvey (1998), pp. 46–47
- ^ Harvey (1998), pp. 47–48
- ISBN 0-00-217515-0p. 289.
- ^ a b c Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Lord Clive," Essays (London), 1891, pp.511–13 (First published in the Edinburgh Review, January 1840).
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63502. Retrieved 20 January 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "Peggy, the other Clive". The Week. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ Gibbs, Vicary, ed. (1912). The Complete Peerage, Volume III. St Catherine's Press. p. 325.
- ^ a b "CLIVE, Robert (1725–74), of Styche Hall, nr. Market Drayton, Salop; subsequently of Walcot Park, Salop; Claremont, Surr.; and Oakley Park, Salop". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ "Sailing Ship "Dodington" (history)". Dodington Family. Archived from the original on 14 January 2005. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
- ^ Russell, Alec (9 October 1997). "South Africa seeks its share of Clive's pounds 1/2 m treasure trove". The Daily Telegraph. London. p. 21.
- ISBN 0-00-217515-0p. 269.
- ISBN 978-0-19-533756-3.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, reports figures of 64 prisoners and 21 survivors.
- ^ H.E. Busteed, Echoes from Old Calcutta (Calcutta), 1908, pp.30–56.
- ^ Sir William Wilson Hunter (1886). The Indian Empire: Its Peoples, History, and Products. Trübner & Company. pp. 381–. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
- ISBN 978-81-7156-819-2. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
- ^ (Marshall 1987, p. 83)
- ^ (Marshall 1987, p. 144)
- ^ "Former Mayors of Shrewsbury 1638 to present". Shrewsbury Town Council. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- ^ a b c Gibbs, Vicary, ed. (1912). The Complete Peerage, Volume III. St Catherine's Press. p. 326.
- ISBN 978-1-4088-6440-1.
- S2CID 153942388.
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- ^ Douglas, James. Complete book online – Bombay and western India – a series of stray papers, with photos of Ajmer. London: Samson Low Marston & Co. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ "Administrative Reforms of Robert clive". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ Domaine de Larzac Archived 11 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, coolvines.com, accessed 30 January 2012
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- ^ Smith, Adam (1776). The Wealth of Nations, Book 4, Chap. 5, Par. 45.
- ISBN 978-8178241753
- ISBN 0-09-459830-4.
- ^ "Robert Clive was a vicious asset-stripper. His statue has no place on Whitehall | William Dalrymple". The Guardian. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
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- ISBN 978-1-4088-6440-1.
- ^ a b "Robert Clive: An 'unstable sociopath and a racist', hated both in India and England". The Indian Express. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ Harvey p.160
- OCLC 44927255.
- ^ Dalrymple, William (4 March 2015). "The East India Company: The original corporate raiders". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ Simpson, Craig (9 January 2021). "Clive of India's name dropped from house at his former school over links to British Empire". The Telegraph.
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- ^ William Darby (1967). Dulwich: A Place in History. W. Darby. p. 20.
- ^ Wearing, J. P. The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
- ^ "Colin Clive, Actor, Dies in Hollywood. Star of Screen and Stage, 37, Scored First Hit as Stanhope in 'Journey's End'. Made Debut Here in 1930. Appeared in 'Clive of India,' a Picture Based on Life of His Ancestor. Descendant of Empire Builder Played Frankenstein Role". The New York Times. 26 June 1937.
- ^ "Private school's 'Clive of India' house renamed over links to British Empire". Watford Observer. 9 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
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- ISBN 978-0-09-459830-0.
- Chaudhuri, Nirad C. Robert Clive of India: A Political and Psychological Essay (1975).
- Dodwell, Henry. Dupleix and Clive: The Beginning of Empire (1920).
- Faught, C. Brad (2013). Clive: Founder of British India. (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, Inc.).
- Harrington, Jack (2010), Sir John Malcolm and the Creation of British India, ch. 6, New York: ISBN 978-0-230-10885-1
- Harvey, Robert. Clive: The Life and Death of a British Emperor. Hodder and Stoughton, 1998.
- Davies, Alfred Mervyn (1939). Clive of Plassey: A Biography. C. Scribner's sons. ISBN 9780598503046.
- Edwardes, Michael The Battle of Plassey and the Conquest of Bengal (London) 1963
- Malleson, G. B. (1893). William Wilson Hunter (ed.). Lord Clive. Rulers of India. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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- Treasure, Geoffrey (2002). Who's Who in Early Hanoverian Britain, 1714–1789. Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-1643-0.
- Bowen, H. V. "Clive, Robert". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5697. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Arbuthnot, Alexander John (1887). Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Clive, Robert Clive, Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 532–536. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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