Robert Clive
1725 – 1774 British East India Company soldier and administrator
Company soldier whose victory at Plassey in 1757 began British territorial rule in India, amassing a private fortune from plunder.
- Religion
- Church of England
- Affiliations
- East India Company
Robert Clive rose through the East India Company from clerk to military commander, winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757 by bribing the Nawab of Bengal's commander to defect. The victory gave the Company control of Bengal's revenues and marked the start of British territorial rule in India. He returned home immensely rich from the plunder of Bengal and faced a parliamentary inquiry into his conduct. His extraction of wealth is linked to the crisis that preceded the catastrophic Bengal famine of 1770; he died by his own hand in 1774.
Connections
- associate of Warren Hastings — Fellow Company man who later governed Bengal.
- associate of Warren Hastings — The predecessor whose conquest he turned into a government.
In the timeline
- 1757 The Battle of Plassey the victorious Company commander
- 1757 Battle of Plassey gives Britain control of Bengal the victorious commander
- 1757 The East India Company wins at Plassey and takes Bengal mentioned
- 1765 The Company Gains the Diwani of Bengal the commander who secured the grant
- 1769 – 1770 The Bengal famine of 1770 architect of the Company rule that preceded it