66 Facts About Charles Cornwallis

Charles Cornwallis later served as a civil and military governor in Ireland, where he helped bring about the Act of Union; and in India, where he helped enact the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement.

Charles Cornwallis next saw military action in 1776 in the American War of Independence.

Charles Cornwallis was born in Grosvenor Square in London, though his family's estates were in Kent.

Charles Cornwallis was made Baron Cornwallis, of Eye in the County of Suffolk, in 1661, and by judicious marriages his descendants increased the importance of his family.

Charles Cornwallis was educated at Eton College and Clare College, Cambridge.

Related searches

Charles Cornwallis then sought and gained permission to engage in military studies abroad.

Charles Cornwallis managed instead to secure an appointment as a staff officer to Lord Granby.

Charles Cornwallis succeeded his father as 2nd Earl Cornwallis in 1762, which resulted in his elevation to the House of Lords.

Charles Cornwallis became a protege of the leading Whig magnate, and future Prime Minister, Lord Rockingham.

Charles Cornwallis was one of five peers who voted against the 1765 Stamp Act out of sympathy with the colonists.

Charles Cornwallis became colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot in 1766.

Charles Cornwallis was often given a leading role during this campaign; his division was in the lead at the Battle of Long Island, and he chased the retreating George Washington across New Jersey after the city fell.

Charles Cornwallis gathered together garrisons scattered across New Jersey and moved them towards Trenton.

Charles Cornwallis was unable to dislodge Washington in the battle that followed.

Charles Cornwallis prepared his troops to continue the assault of Washington's position the next day, but critically failed to send out adequate patrols to monitor the Americans.

Charles Cornwallis spent the winter in New York and New Jersey, where the forces under his command were engaged in ongoing skirmishes with the Americans.

Charles Cornwallis continued to serve under Howe on his campaign for control of the rebel capital, Philadelphia.

Charles Cornwallis was again often in an advance role, leading the flanking manoeuvre at the Battle of Brandywine, and playing key roles at Germantown and Fort Mercer.

The relationship between Clinton and Cornwallis had noticeably soured during the Charleston campaign, and they were barely on speaking terms when Clinton left.

Task Clinton left Cornwallis with was to, first and foremost, preserve the gains made by taking Charleston, and only then engage in offensive moves.

Charles Cornwallis was expected to recruit more Loyalists, who were believed to be more numerous in the southern colonies.

Charles Cornwallis established a series of outposts in South Carolina, but keeping communication and supply lines open was an ongoing challenge.

Charles Cornwallis attempted to reestablish civil authority under British or Loyalist oversight.

In London, Charles Cornwallis was perceived as a hero, and was viewed by many there as the right man to lead the British forces to victory over the rebels.

Charles Cornwallis then clashed with the rebuilt Continental army under General Nathanael Greene at Guilford Court House in North Carolina, winning a Pyrrhic victory with a bayonet charge against a numerically superior enemy.

Related searches

Charles Cornwallis then moved his forces to Wilmington on the coast to resupply.

Charles Cornwallis received dispatches in Wilmington informing him that another British army under Generals William Phillips and Benedict Arnold had been sent to Virginia.

Phillips, a personal friend of Charles Cornwallis, died one week before Charles Cornwallis reached his position at Petersburg.

Charles Cornwallis then sought to fulfil orders Clinton had given to Phillips, and raided the Virginia countryside, destroying American military and economic targets.

Lafayette skirmished with Charles Cornwallis, avoiding a decisive battle while gathering reinforcements.

Charles Cornwallis eventually received firm orders from Clinton to choose a position on the Virginia Peninsula—referred to in contemporary letters as the "Williamsburg Neck"—and construct a fortified naval post to shelter ships of the line.

Charles Cornwallis's surrender did not mark the end of the war, though it ended major fighting in the American theatre.

Charles Cornwallis retained the confidence of King George III and the government of the earl of Shelburne, but he was placed in a financially precarious state by his inability to be on active duty.

Charles Cornwallis attended manoeuvres along with the Duke of York where they encountered his old opponent Lafayette.

In 1786 Charles Cornwallis was made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

Charles Cornwallis had in 1782 been offered the governor-generalship only, but refused the post until he received military command as well.

Charles Cornwallis engaged in reforms of all types, that affected many areas of civil, military, and corporate administration.

Charles Cornwallis worked to reduce nepotism and political favouritism, instituting the practice of merit-based advancement.

Charles Cornwallis had the company take over the few remaining judicial powers of the Nawab of Bengal, the titular local ruler of much of the Bengal Presidency, and gave some judicial powers to company employees.

Charles Cornwallis had the legal frameworks of Muslim and Hindu law translated into English, and promulgated administrative regulations and a new civil and criminal code.

Charles Cornwallis introduced legislation to protect native weavers who were sometimes forced into working at starvation wages by unscrupulous company employees, outlawed child slavery, and established in 1791 a Sanskrit college for Hindus that is the Government Sanskrit College in Benares.

Charles Cornwallis established a mint in Calcutta that, in addition to benefiting the poor by providing a reliable standard currency, was a forerunner of India's modern currency.

Part of the Charles Cornwallis Code was an important land taxation reform known in India as the Permanent Settlement.

Charles Cornwallis, a landed gentleman himself, especially believed that a class of landed gentry would naturally concern themselves with the improvement of the lands, thus improving the condition of its tenants.

Charles Cornwallis had been sent to India with instructions to avoid conflict with the company's neighbors.

Related searches

Charles Cornwallis was manoeuvred into the establishment of a new company based at Penang, where conflict was avoided when he agreed to pay a stipend to the local rajah for use of the base.

Charles Cornwallis declined the king's request, sending instead Colonel William Kirkpatrick to mediate the dispute.

Charles Cornwallis ordered company and Crown troops to mobilize in response.

Charles Cornwallis returned to England the following year, and was succeeded by Sir John Shore.

Charles Cornwallis oversaw improvements to Britain's coastal defences, and was able to expand Woolwich Academy's artillery training program to address a significant shortage of qualified artillery officers.

Charles Cornwallis's appointment was greeted unfavourably by the Irish elite, who preferred his predecessor Lord Camden, and suspected he had liberal sympathies with the predominantly Catholic rebels.

The French invaders were defeated and forced to surrender at the Battle of Ballinamuck, after which Charles Cornwallis ordered the execution by lot of a number of Irish rebels.

Charles Cornwallis was instrumental in securing passage in 1800 of the Act of Union by the Parliament of Ireland, a necessary step in the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Pitt consequently resigned, and Charles Cornwallis resigned his offices, returning to London in May 1801.

Charles Cornwallis was then sent to France to finalise peace terms with Bonaparte.

Negotiations resulted in the Treaty of Amiens, which Charles Cornwallis signed on behalf the United Kingdom on 25 March 1802.

Charles Cornwallis is often seen as being partially responsible for conceding too much in the negotiations, although much had already been granted to France in the preliminary negotiations.

In 1805 Charles Cornwallis was reappointed Governor-General of India by Pitt, this time to curb the expansionist activity of Lord Wellesley .

Charles Cornwallis arrived in India in July 1805, and died on 5 October of a fever at Gauspur in Ghazipur, at that time in the Varanasi kingdom.

Charles Cornwallis was buried there, overlooking the Ganges River, where his memorial is a protected monument maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Charles Cornwallis appears in the 1835 novel Horse-Shoe Robinson by John Pendleton Kennedy, a historical romance set against the background of the Southern campaigns in the American War of Independence, and interacts with the fictional characters in the book.

Charles Cornwallis is depicted as courtly in manner, but tolerant, or even supportive, of brutal practices against those found deficient among his own forces, and against enemy prisoners.

Fort Charles Cornwallis, founded in 1786 in George Town, Prince of Wales Island, is named for him.

Statues of Charles Cornwallis can be seen in St Paul's Cathedral, London, Fort Museum, Fort St George, Chennai, and in the Victoria Memorial, Kolkata.

Charles Cornwallis was the recipient of the first British commemorative statue sent to the Indian subcontinent.

Related searches

Bacon was paid £5250 for the standing figure, which portrayed Charles Cornwallis wearing an officer's tailcoat, breeches, brocade and an immense cloak.