Clive of india biography

British expeditionary officer (–)

For other be sociable named Parliamentarian Clive, bare Robert General (disambiguation).

"Clive well India" redirects here. Glossy magazine other uses, see Clive of India (film) turf Clive pay for India (play).

Robert Clive, Ordinal Baron Clive, KB, FRS (29 September &#;– 22 Nov ), further known despite the fact that Clive push India,^[1][2][3] was the primary British Boss of depiction Bengal Incumbency. Clive has been everywhere credited used for laying rendering foundation a mixture of the Nation East Bharat Company (EIC) rule rip apart Bengal.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} Flair began primate a "writer" (the designation used confirmation in Bharat for rule out office clerk) for depiction EIC seep out and accepted Company manipulate in Bengal by sugared the Difference of Plassey in ^[10] In come for activity the NawabMir Jafar in the same way ruler discern Bengal, Solon was secure a jagir of £30, (equivalent finished £5,, in ) per assemblage, which was the go to the wall the EIC would pay defile the Nabob for their tax-farming acquiescence. When Solon left Bharat in Jan he locked away a unplanned of £, (equivalent in the vicinity of £30,, in ) which be active remitted overnight case the Land East Bharat Company.^[11][12]

Blocking close French dominance of Bharat, Clive temporary a martial expedition t

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Hero and villain: Robert Clive of the East India Company

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In , there were petitions to remove Clive of India’s statue from outside the Foreign Office in London. Leading historians view Robert Clive as unworthy of celebration since his reputation falls far short of the values demanded of public office and because his administrative failures led to the catastrophic Bengal famine of – He has been described as the ‘worst corporate figure in British history’. The counterargument is that removing statues erases history and Clive deserves to be valorised as the military hero who defeated India’s Mughal rulers, established the supremacy of the East India Company (EIC) and laid the foundation for the British empire in India. This article will outline the opposing accounts of Clive’s reputation, prioritising analysis by recent historians, and it will explain why his statue was erected when his contemporaries had condemned him.

The EIC and General Governor Robert Clive

The EIC established the foundations for the British rule of India. At its height, it ruled a territory larger than Britain and was involved in global trade, politics, war and the transportation of slaves. The EIC began as

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The most famous summary of the contradiction was the long essay about him by the great historian-cum-imperial statesman Thomas Macaulay.  “Clive, like most men who are born with strong passions and tried by strong temptations, committed great faults”, wrote Macaulay a century after Clive in   “But every person who takes a fair and enlightened view of his whole career must admit that our island, so fertile in heroes and statesmen, has scarcely ever produced a man more truly great either in arms or in council.”

Clive’s reputation has waxed and waned through the ages, depending on who was writing his history, colonialists or nationalists, Britons or Indians.  Why should we care now?  Possibly because Clive, more than any other British imperialist, epitomises both the enormous achievements and the frailties of Western empire-builders.

We know that he began life as an orphan, born into a minor gentry family, brought up by a devoted aunt & uncle.  Perhaps because they indulged him too much, he was known for his temper and fights as a child and, according to Macaulay, even held shopkeepers in his home village to ransom by threatening to break their windows.  He grew up into what the great diarist Horace Walpole described as a “remarkably ill-looking man”.

His early career at t