Robert Clive to India in 1755 as governor of Fort St.

David
and as lieutenant colonel in the royal army.
Robert Clive was born in
1725, in Shropshire. An In 1756 Suraja Dowla, the new nawab, seized
unruly youngster, he and plundered Calcutta, the principal city of
attended several schools Bengal and the most valuable trading centre
and at 18 was sent to
Madras as a clerk and
bookkeeper for the East
India Company.

The rivalry between French

and British interests in southern India gave
Clive his opportunity for fame and fortune.
He volunteered for military service, paid to
climb the ranks to officer, and participated in
several battles against the French; he
distinguished himself at Pondicherry in 1748,
before the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in India.
temporarily ended hostilities. In 1749 he was
Many English fled to ships and escaped, but
appointed captain of commissary to supply
146 were imprisoned in a small underground
provisions to the troops, and he began to
dungeon called the Black Hole. Only 23 would
amass a fortune. However, recurring clashes
emerge alive. Clive led a relief expedition
between the French and English East India
from Madras in October; he rescued the
companies brought him back to active
English prisoners in December, took Calcutta
military service.
in January, and defeated the nawab's army in
In 1751 Clive offered to lead an expedition to February. Peace was made, and the East India
relieve Trichinopoly, where Mohammed Ali, Company's privileges were restored.
the British candidate for nawab (ruler), was
Displeased with the nawab's friendly attitude
besieged by the French candidate, Chanda
toward the French, Clive decided to replace
Sahib. With only 200 European and 300
him. In 1757, at the Battle of Plassey, he
Indian troops, Clive seized Arcot, Chanda
defeated Suraja and became company
Sahib's capital, thereby diverting 10,000 of
governor and virtual master of Bengal. His
Chanda Sahib's men from Trichinopoly.
position now enabled him to strengthen the
Clive withstood a 50-day siege and, when he authority of the new nawab, Mir Jafar, to
received reinforcements, began guerrilla launch successful military expeditions against
warfare against the French and French- the French and to thwart Dutch expansion.
supported troops. The siege of Trichinopoly Furthermore, Bengal was the most populous
was finally lifted, and a truce in 1754 area in the region and, after reaching a
recognised Mohammed Ali as nawab in the concession with the Mughal emperor Shah
Treaty of Paris in 1763. In 1765 the emperor Alam II in the Treat of Allahabad in 1765, the
at Delhi admitted British hegemony EIC was given the diwani, the right to collect
(dominance) in southern India. taxes in Bengal.

Clive's leadership at Arcot gave him an
immense reputation in Europe. When he
went home in 1753, William Pitt called him a
"heaven-born general." After running
unsuccessfully for Parliament, Clive returned
In declining health Clive went to England in
1760. He was given an Irish peerage,
knighted, and made a Member of Parliament.
In 1765, when administrative chaos and fiscal
disorder brought the company near disaster
in Bengal, he returned to Calcutta as governor
and commander in chief.

Clive limited the company to Bengal, Bihar,

and Orissa, bringing these states under direct
company control. He reformed the company's
administrative practices, restored financial
discipline while abolishing abuses, and
reorganised the army. His efforts made the
company sovereign ruler of 30 million people
who produced an annual revenue of £4
million sterling.

Clive left India in February 1767. Five years

later, in the absence of his strong hand in
Bengal, the company appealed to the British
government to save it from bankruptcy
caused by widespread corruption. Clive's
enemies in Parliament claimed that he was
responsible for the situation. After a long trial
he was exonerated; but continuing attacks on
his integrity, together with illness and
physical exhaustion, led him to commit
suicide in London in 1774.