Charles Cornwallis was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. He also served as a civil and military governor in Ireland and India; in both places he brought about significant changes, including the Act of Union in Ireland, and the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement in India.
Background
Cornwallis was born in Grosvenor Square in London on December 31, 1738, though his family's estates were in Kent. He was the eldest son of Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, and niece of Sir Robert Walpole. His uncle, Frederick, was Archbishop of Canterbury. Frederick's twin brother, Edward, was a military officer, colonial governor, and founder of Halifax, Nova Scotia. His brother William became an Admiral in the Royal Navy. His other brother, James, eventually inherited the earldom from Cornwallis's son, Charles.
The family was established at Brome Hall, near Eye, Suffolk, in the 14th century, and its members would represent the county in the House of Commons over the next three hundred years. Frederick Cornwallis, created a Baronet in 1627, fought for King Charles I, and followed King Charles II into exile. He 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.
Education
Charles Cornwallis was educated at Eton, received his ensign's commission in the Grenadier Guards in 1756, then briefly attended a military academy at Turin.
Career
A veteran of the Seven Years’ War (1756–63)—during which he succeeded to his father’s earldom and other titles—Cornwallis, who had opposed the British policies that antagonized the North American colonists, nonetheless fought to suppress the American Revolution. Late in 1776, he drove General George Washington’s patriot forces out of New Jersey but early in 1777 Washington recaptured part of that state. As British commander in the South from June 1780, Cornwallis won a great victory over General Horatio Gates at Camden, South Carolina, on August 16 of that year. Marching through eastern North Carolina into Virginia, he established his base at the tidewater seaport of Yorktown. Trapped there by American and French ground forces under Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau and a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse, he surrendered his large army after a siege.
Although the Yorktown capitulation decided the war in favor of the colonists, Cornwallis remained in high esteem at home. On February 23, 1786, he accepted the governor-generalship of India. Before leaving office on August 13, 1793, he brought about a series of legal and administrative reforms, notably the Cornwallis Code (1793). By paying civil servants adequately while forbidding them to engage in private business, he established a tradition of law-abiding, incorruptible British rule in India. He disbelieved, however, in the capacity of Indians for self-government, and some of his measures—the reorganization of the courts in various regions and of the revenue system in Bengal—proved ill-advised. In the third of four Mysore Wars, he inflicted a temporary defeat (1792) on Tippu Sultan, the anti-British ruler of the Mysore state. For his services in India, he has created a marquess in 1792.
As viceroy of Ireland (1798–1801), Cornwallis won the confidence of both militant Protestants (Orangemen) and Roman Catholics. After suppressing a serious Irish rebellion in 1798 and defeating a French invasion force on September 9 of that year, he wisely insisted that only the revolutionary leaders be punished. As he had done in India, he worked to eliminate corruption among British officials in Ireland. He also supported the parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland (effective January 1, 1801) and the concession of political rights to Roman Catholics (rejected by King George III in 1801, causing Cornwallis to resign).
As British plenipotentiary, Cornwallis negotiated the Treaty of Amiens (March 27, 1802), which established peace in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars. He was reappointed governor-general of India in 1805 but died shortly after his arrival.
Achievements
Connections
On 14 July 1768, Charles Cornwallis married Jemima Tullekin Jones, daughter of a regimental colonel. The union was, by all accounts, happy. They settled in Culford, Suffolk, where their children, Mary, and Charles were born. Jemima died on 14 April 1779