Background
He was born in 1726 in Kilmallock, near Limerick, Ireland, the son of the Reverend Chidley Coote and Jane Evans, daughter of George Evans and sister of George Evans, 1st Baron Carbery.
He was born in 1726 in Kilmallock, near Limerick, Ireland, the son of the Reverend Chidley Coote and Jane Evans, daughter of George Evans and sister of George Evans, 1st Baron Carbery.
He entered the 27th Regiment of Foot.
Soon came the battle of Plassey, which would in all probability not have taken place but for Coote's soldierly advice at the council of war; and after the defeat of the Nawab he led a detachment in pursuit of the French for 400 m. under extraordinary difficulties.
In October 1759 Coote's regiment arrived to take part in the decisive struggle between French and English in the Carnatic.
He took command of the forces at Madras, and in 1760 led them in the decisive victory of Wandiwash (January 22).
After a time the remnants of Lally's forces were shut up in Pondicherry.
For some reason Coote was not entrusted with the siege operations, but he cheerfully and loyally supported Monson, who brought the siege to a successful end on the 15th of January 1761.
Soon afterwards Coote was given the command of the East India Company's forces in Bengal, and conducted the settlement of a serious dispute between the Nawab Mir Cassim and a powerful subordinate, and in 1762 he returned to England, receiving a jewelled sword of honour from the Company and other rewards for his great services.
In 1769 he returned as commander-in-chief of the Bengal army but soon resigned again for the same reason.
In 1771 he was made a K. B.
Following generally the policy of Warren Hastings, he nevertheless refused to take sides in the quarrels of the council, and made a firm stand in all matters affecting the forces.
In 1779, he came back once more as C. -in-C. under Warren Hastings and led the army in the second Mysore War.
Hyder Ali's progress in southern India called him again into the field, but his difficulties were very great and it was not until the 16t of June 1781 that the crushing and decisive defeat of Porto Novo struck the first heavy blow at Hyder's schemes.
The battle was won by Coote under most unfavourable conditions against odds of five to one, and is justly ranked as one of the greatest feats of the British in India.
It was followed up by another hard-fought battle at Pollilur (the scene of an earlier triumph of Hyder over a British force) on the 27th of August, in which the British won another success, and by the rout of the Mysore troops at Sholingarh a month later.
His last service was the arduous campaign of 1782, which finally shattered a constitution already gravely impaired by hardship and exertions.
A monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey. For a short biography of Coote see Twelve British Soldiers (ed.
Wilkinson, London, 1899), and for the battles of Wandewash and Porto Novo, consult Malleson, Decisive Battles of India (London, .
An account of Coote may be found in Wilk's Historical Sketches of Mysore (1810).
He was a member of Parliament for Maryborough, and a member of Parliament for Poole.
In 1768, he was elected M. P. for the borough of Leicester in the Parliament of Great Britain, before transferring to Poole, nearer his Hampshire estates, in 1774. He relinquished the seat in 1780 after his last return to India.
He had no children, and his property, worth over £200, 000, was left to his brother, Doctor Charles Coote, Dean of Kilfenora, in County Clare, Ireland.
