Person:Robert Clive (2)

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Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive
b.29 Sep 1725
d.22 Nov 1774
m. 15 Mar 1753
  1. Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis1754 - 1839
Facts and Events
Name Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive
Gender Male
Birth[1] 29 Sep 1725
Marriage 15 Mar 1753 to Margaret Maskelyne
Death[1] 22 Nov 1774
Reference Number? Q162296?


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British East India Company rule in Bengal. He began as a writer (the term used then in India for an office clerk) for the East India Company (EIC) in 1744 and established Company rule in Bengal by winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757. In return for supporting the Nawab Mir Jafar as ruler of Bengal, Clive was granted a jagir of £30,000 per year which was the rent the EIC would otherwise pay to the Nawab for their tax-farming concession. When Clive left India he had a fortune of £180,000 which he remitted through the Dutch East India Company.

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) a second time 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 Irish baronetcy from the then Whig PM, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, and a seat for himself in Parliament, via Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Powis, representing the Whigs in Shrewsbury, Shropshire (1761–1774), as he had previously in Mitchell, Cornwall (1754–1755).

Clive's actions on behalf of the EIC have made him one of Britain's most controversial colonial figures. His achievements included checking French imperialist ambitions on the Coromandel Coast and establishing EIC control over Bengal, thereby furthering the establishment of the British Raj, though he worked only as an agent of the East India Company, not of the British government. Vilified by his political rivals in Britain, he went on trial (1772 and 1773) before Parliament, where he was absolved from every charge. Historians have criticised Clive's management of Bengal during his tenure with the EIC and his responsibility in contributing to the Great Bengal Famine of 1770, which historians estimate resulted in the deaths of more than 1 million people.

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References
  1. 1.0 1.1 Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.