Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (December 31, 1738 – October 5, 1805) was an English military commander and colonial governor. In America, he is most remembered as a British general in the American Revolutionary War. His 1781 defeat by a combined American-French force at the Siege of Yorktown is generally considered the war's end. In India, he is remembered for promulgating the Permanent Settlement.

He succeeded his father in 1762 as the 6th Baron Cornwallis and the 2nd Earl Cornwallis, and was himself elevated to Marquess in 1792.

Early Life

Charles was the eldest son of Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis (later 1st Earl Cornwallis) and was born at Grosvenor Square, London, even though his family's estates were in Kent.

Cornwallis had all the advantages that money and family connections could bring. The family of Cornwallis was established at Brome Hall, near Eye, in Suffolk, in the course of the fourteenth century, and members of it occasionally represented the county in the House of Commons during the next three hundred years. Frederick Cornwallis, created a baronet in 1627, fought for Charles I, and followed Charles II into exile. He was created Lord Cornwallis of Eye, Suffolk, in 1661, and his descendants by fortunate marriages increased the importance of the family.

Charles' mother Elizabeth was the daughter of Lord Townshend and niece of the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. His father was created Earl Cornwallis and Viscount Brome in 1753. An uncle, Frederick, was Archbishop of Canterbury. Another uncle, Edward, was a leading colonialist in Canada.

Military Career

Charles was educated at Eton College - where he received an injury to his eye by an accidental blow at hockey from the Hon. Shute Barrington, afterwards bishop of Durham - and Clare College, Cambridge. He obtained his first commission as ensign in the 1st, or grenadier, guards, on 8 December 1756. His military education then commenced, and after travelling on the continent with a Prussian officer, Captain de Roguin, Lord Brome, as he was then styled, studied at the military academy of Turin.

Throughout the course of the Seven Years' War, Cornwallis served four terms in different posts in Germany, interspersed with trips home. He served as a staff officer to John Manners, Marquess of Granby in 1758. In 1759, he was assigned to the 85th Regiment of Foot, and after action at the Battle of Minden he was promoted to Captain before returning to England.

He also became a Member of Parliament in January 1760, entering the House of Commons for the village of Wye in Kent.

In 1761, he was again sent to Germany, this time for duty with the 12th Foot, and was promoted to brevet Lieutenant Colonel. He led his unit in the Battle of Villinghausen on July 15th-16th, and was noted for his gallantry.

American Revolution

With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Cornwallis volunteered for military service and on January 1, 1776, he was given a commission. In March, he set sail for New York with 2,500 troops with the assignment to serve under Major General Henry Clinton.

Between January 2 and January 4, 1777, Cornwallis fought the American Continental Army at Princeton, New Jersey, led by General George Washington. The Americans surprised a detachment of Cornwallis's troops and pressed the attack until encountering the main body of Cornwallis' force. After this first engagement, the American army slipped away in the night before Cornwallis could counter-attack. The Battle of Princeton was commonly seen as an American victory, although it was composed of a confused series of skirmishes without a decisive defeat for either force.

In 1780, Cornwallis led British forces in the Carolinas against Nathanael Greene. Cornwallis' forces were severely damaged as he moved through the region. British forces suffered from a utilisation of various guerrilla ambush tactics led by Francis Marion throughout South Carolina. General Nathanael Greene took advantage of Marion's weakening of the British forces. Cornwallis's army suffered heavy losses at the Battle of King's Mountain and Battle of Cowpens. Cornwallis and Greene engaged each other shortly thereafter in 1781 at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. British forces won the battle but once again suffered heavy losses. Cornwallis then abandoned plans to assert control of the Carolinas, and retreated to Yorktown, Virginia to wait for reinforcements.

As Cornwallis waited for resupply from the Royal Navy, the American commander George Washington learned that a French naval force was moving to enter the war for the first time, and he realised that Cornwallis' exposed position was an opportunity to win a victory that would resonate in the public imagination. In the Siege of Yorktown, a combined French-American force attacked Cornwallis, while the French navy prevented the expected British reinforcements from arriving by sea. On 19 October 1781, an emissary of Cornwallis surrendered the army to Washington; Cornwallis himself declined to attend the ceremony, claiming illness.

Cornwallis' surrender did not immediately end the war (he commanded only about a quarter of Britain's forces), but the embarrassment swiftly turned the British public in favour of making peace. Some fighting continued, but none of great significance, and a final peace treaty with full withdrawal of British troops came in 1783. Despite Cornwallis's personal responsibility for the surrender and the subsequent and inevitable loss of the war, it was Henry Clinton, Cornwallis's superior commander in America (secure in fortified New York City), who received from the British public most of the blame for the defeat.

Ireland & India

Cornwallis, a close political ally of the younger Pitt, then was sent to India, where the colonial administration was judged by the Prime Minister to be urgently in need of reform following Warren Hastings' tenure. His appointment as Governor-General began in 1786. The primary objective of his first term was the settling of issues related to revenue extraction and local administration, and his administration came to the significant agreement with native landlords known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal. Cornwallis also created a police force and an incorruptible civil service.

A few years after his term ended in 1793, he once again re-located, and became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland where he was responsible for the repression of the United Irishmen's rebellion in 1798 and the enabling of the union between Britain and Ireland. Subsequently, Lord Cornwallis moved back to India where he was made Governor General a second time in 1805. He died of a fever at Ghazipur, near Varanasi, shortly after arriving, and is buried overlooking the Ganges River, where his memorial continues to be maintained by the Government of India.

Issue

Charles, the only son (b. 1774), became second marquess and third earl. He married Louisa, daughter of the fourth Duke of Gordon, had five daughters, and died 16 August 1823, when the marquisate expired. James Cornwallis became fourth earl.

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Early Life

Military Career

American Revolution

Ireland & India

Issue