Fort
St George….. In the Mid 1700s…
“On
certain afternoons in the week, the younger men were taught one or other
languages of the country, being stimulated thereunto by the promise of large
rewards for proficiency – twenty pounds being given for the knowledge of an
Indian language and ten pounds for the knowledge of Persian.” – (J.Talboys-Wheeler: Madras in the olden times; Vol 1 page 49)
Clive
had a good colloquial knowledge of the vernacular languages which enabled him
to acquire that intimate knowledge of the politics and characters of the
natives, without which the career of a soldier or administrator in India can
never be successful.
Clive
declared years later that much of his success in securing the fidelity of the
sepoys was owing to his care “to entwine his laurels around the opinions and
prejudices of the natives.”
The
Hot and Humid Madras climate had not deterred these British immigrants, from
learning languages and sharpening their skills in pursuit of their goals!!
Robert Clive was born on
the 29th of September 1725, Shropshire, England.
His father, Richard Clive, had been a lawyer. His mother Rebecca was from Manchester. It was a large family of six sons, and seven daughters.
Mrs. Clive had two sisters, the
one of whom, Elizabeth, was married, to Daniel Bayley, of Hope Hall, near Manchester.
For some reason, Robert Clive,
while not yet three years of age, was sent to his uncle, Mr. Bayley, in whose
family he was raised as his own son and educated for several years.
While very young he appears to
have gathered a small band to lead, demanding contributions in pence or small
articles from the shop keepers – a sort of protection money, for abstaining from breaking windows and
other mischievous pranks.
His learning at school seems to
have been limited as he was impatient, and his application was not towards
books. But he had learnt sufficiently to apply and self-educate himself later
at Fort St George and was deeply religious.
” He always retained a deep sense
of religion: at no period of his life did he ever indulge in or sanction, light or irreverent conversation on religious
subjects.”
“Like
many other eminent men, he seems to have owed much to his mother, —a woman
remarkable for her virtues and talents, and who is reported to have shown much
tact and good sense in soothing and managing the hasty, and occasionally
violent, temper of her husband.”
He left
England in 1743, but his ship ‘Winchester’ travelled to Brazil and was retained
there for 9 months. His stay there enabled him to gain command of the
Portuguese language, which helped him later.
Clive arrived at Madras on Friday 1st
June 1744, not a fine season for an Englishman to land. His correspondence
dated 10th September 1744 to his father
speaks of his difficulty with the change to a hotter climate, apologetic about losing some of his things during
the voyage, an account of his expenses from breakfast, lack of adequate
clothes, cost of the apparels and so on. He requests for some money with all the
assurance a young man is capable of in being prudent in spending and accounting
for it.
A Quote
from his letter – “The world seems to be vastly debased of late, and Interest
carries it entirely before Merit, especially in this service, tho I should
think myself very undeserving of any favour, were I only to build my foundation
on the strength of the former; “
His
aspiration to build his career on Merit and behave in a manner worthy and
deserving of his Father’s confidence and esteem are expressed in this
letter.
On 10th
December 1744, he writes to his uncle Mr. Bayley expressing his gratitude for
he had done for him during his younger days and says, “ I am confess at
intervals when I think of my dear Native England, it affects me in a very
particular manner, however knowing it to be for my own welfare, rest content
and patient, wishing the views for which my father sent me here, may in all
respects be fully accomplished.”
The
Office of The East India Company, Madras in 1744 **
The
servants of the East India Company at Madras were divided into four classes –
Senior Merchants, Junior Merchants, Factors and Writers.
Ten Writers
were the clerks and bookkeepers, and their wages were small – £5 per annum. In
September 1744, Robert Clive drew his first quarterly pay at £1 and 5s.
Five
Factors were paid £15 per annum, Two Junior Merchants - £ 30 per year and One
Senior Merchant at £ 40 per year.
Governor
- £200 a year with a gratuity of £100.
Six
Councillors – The chief received £100 and the others £ 70, £50, £40 a year
proportionately.
Two
chaplains on £100 a year, surgeon at £36, two Essay masters £120.
One
Judge £100 and an attorney- general at 50 pagodas (1 Pagoda = 4 Indian Rupees)
Married men received 5 to 10 pagodas as diet
money.
This
completed the Civil European Establishment at Fort St George.
It
seems very much like a new branch of a fledgling
commercial enterprise of today!!
Source
** Page 20 of Life of Lord Clive by Sir
George Forrest
Daily
Life at Fort St George
From the
old records and early travellers, we gain some knowledge of the daily life in
the factory at Madras.
At dawn,
the morning gun fired, and first all the writers and factors attended service
in the church. For every Protestant that ‘lodged within the house’, who
was absent from the public prayer morning and evening on weekdays without
lawful excuse, had to pay “twelve pence for the poor or be confined one whole
week within the house for every such default.”
“On
certain afternoons in the week, the younger men were taught one or other
languages of the country, being stimulated thereunto by the promise of large
rewards for proficiency – twenty pounds being given for the knowledge of an
Indian language and ten pounds for the knowledge of Persian.” – (J.
Talboys-Wheeler: Madras in the olden times; Vol 1 page 49)
Clive
had a good colloquial knowledge of the vernacular languages which enabled him
to acquire that intimate knowledge of the politics and characters of the
natives, without which the career of a soldier or administrator in India can
never be successful.
Clive
declared years later that much of his success in securing the fidelity of the
sepoys was owing to his care “to entwine his laurels around the opinions and
prejudices of the natives.”
While
many others killed their leisure time in the tavern, drinking and playing at
cards, Clive read books in the Governor’s library and even polished his early
classical training in Latin.
A companion of that time described the lad as, “short, inclined to be corpulent
awkward and unmannerly, his aspect was gloomy his temper morose and
untractable. “
The
Rivals for Power over Coromandal – The French
The
French with their base at Pondicherry had plans to capture Madras.
The
French attack from Pondicherry on Madras – recorded by Anandarangam Pillai in
his diary
12th
September 1746, at half past eight this night, all ships of the expedition
against Madras set sail…
Capture
of Madras by the French and Clive’s
escape to Fort St David, Cuddalore
A letter
from Madras dated October 17th, 1746, states, “They came in sight the
2nd. Nine sail and landed 800 Europeans at Covalong, marched
to San Thome, there landed more. “The neighbourhood covered with country
houses was given to pillage.”
Morse,
the Governor of Madras, now called on the Nawab of Carnatic to fulfill his
promise of restraining the French from committing hostilities against them by
land.
The army
of the Nawab of Carnatic led by Mahfuz Khan was challenged by French on the
banks of the Adyar river and French army emerged victorious.
The English
were driven out of Madras, and many escaped through various routes at night to reach the Fort St David at Cuddalore.
Clive
was one among those who escaped. He had written to Orme, “the beginning of
October, disguised in the habit of a Dubash and blackened and arrived at Fort
St David, (Cuddalore) the same month.”
(Orme
MSS: India Vol 1)
After winning
Fort St George, Dupleix aspired for Fort
St David to subjugate the British. Two attacks by the French were repulsed by
the British and Robert Clive commissioned into the army. Screen shot of the
document of his commission is given below.
"Mr Robert Clive, writer in the Service, being of a martial disposition and having acted as our volunteer in our late engagements, we have granted him an Ensign's commission upon his application for the same." - 2nd May 1747 The Governor in the council
The 1700s
were Turbulent times with Political Instability and consequent brutal military
expeditions by random forces wreaking havoc in the Carnatic region.
Vijayanagar
Empire had fallen in 1565 and many Mahamandeleswaras had declared independence.
The Nayaks of Thanjai, Madurai, and Senji held power. The Northern part of
TamilNadu was with the Raja of Chandragiri.
Many
adventurers from Persia had landed in the Carnatic and were working under the
Nizam of Hyderabad. During the 1600s they managed to capture many places in
Tamilnadu and their seat of Power was established at Arcot.
The
Mahrattas were established at Thanjavur and there were mercenaries like Murari
Rao who had assembled random adventurers of various origins to kill, pillage, and
plunder. Harassment of any place could be outsourced to him for a fee.
With
Thanjavur out of their hands, the Nayaks were restricted to Tiruchi at the
heart of Tamilnadu. This place was coveted by all the powers.
The French
were established at Pondicherry and were intent on expansion.
The British initially
focusing on trade, maintained a small army to protect themselves and closely
observed the happenings around them. Wishing for stability for the purpose of
trade, they later lent military support to some Political powers.
It helped them gain more territory and eventually total Power. The opportunity given, was
used with tactical planning and shrewd decisions. Robert Clive found his destiny
here.
Sourced
from –
The Life
of Robert, Lord Clive - Authored by Major – General Sir John Malcolm
Life of
Lord Clive, by Sir George Forrest
