Clive (of Plassey), Robert Clive, Baron, also called Clive of India 1725-74
English general and colonial administrator

He was born near Market Drayton, Shropshire. In 1743 he joined the East India Company in Madras, where he tried to commit suicide. In 1751 he held Arcot with a small force against a French-Indian army for 53 days before being relieved. In 1753 he married Margaret Maskelyne, sister of the astronomer Nevil Maskelyne, and returned to England in triumph. In 1755 Clive returned to India where he was called on to avenge the so-called Black Hole of Calcutta (1757). Calcutta was soon retaken, and Chandernagore, the French settlement, captured. At Plassey (1757) he defeated the Nawab of Bengal, Suraja Dowlah. For three years he was sole ruler in all but name of Bengal on behalf of the East India Company. In 1760 he returned to England, to be hailed by Lord Chatham (Pitt the Elder) as 'a heaven-born general'. In 1761 he entered parliament, and in 1762 was made Baron Clive of Plassey. Clive was sent to India again in 1764 as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bengal. He established British supremancy throughout India, but on his return to England in 1767 he was faced with a parliamentary storm about his handling of the East India Company's affairs, and although ultimately vindicated in 1773, committed suicide soon afterwards.

Bibliography: A M Davies, Clive of Plassey (1939)