Education
Cornwallis was educated at Eton and Clare College, Cambridge.
Cornwallis was educated at Eton and Clare College, Cambridge.
He entered the army in 1756 and served in Germany between 1758 and 1762 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Though he had joined the Whig opposition to taxation of the American colonies, he was made major general in 1775, and in 1776 was sent out to America with reinforcements for Sir William Howe. He took part in the battle of Long Island, the capture of New York, and the occupation of Philadelphia. In 1778 he returned from England as second in command to Sir Henry Clinton and was appointed to conduct the operations in South Carolina (1780). A rather difficult subordinate, Cornwallis tried to do more than Clinton's strength would justify. Although he defeated the incompetent Gen. Horatio Gates at Camden, S.C., and Gen. Nathanael Greene at Guilford Court House, N.C., he was forced to surrender at Yorktown, Va., on Oct. 19, 1781, thus ensuring the success of the American cause.
In 1786 he was appointed governor general and commander in chief in India, where he carried out vigorous reforms in the administration and in the army. He also effected a permanent land settlement in Bengal, by which the leases of the zamindars, or hereditary tax gatherers, were transformed into outright ownership, on condition of payment of a fixed annual sum to the government. This well-meant legislation caused some suffering among the peasants and tended to freeze the revenues. In 1792, Cornwallis broke the aggressive power of Tipu Sahib, Sultan of Mysore, in a successful action at Seringapatam. In the same year he was made Marquis Cornwallis, and in 1793 he returned to England. From 1798 to 1801 he served as viceroy and commander in chief in Ireland, putting down the revolt of 1798 and forcing the surrender of the French troops under General Humbert. He pursued a policy of moderation and clemency and gave Castlereagh full support in carrying through the Act of Union (1801). In 1802, as minister plenipotentiary to France, he negotiated the short-lived Peace of Amiens. As a result of the conservative East India Company's dissatisfaction with Marquis Wellesley's policy in India, Cornwallis was reappointed governor general in 1805.