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Why was Warren Hastings acquitted?
Why was Hastings acquitted?
Who was Warren Hastings?
Why was Warren Hastings impeached?
The impeachment of Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of the Bengal Presidency in India, was attempted between 1787 and 1795 in the Parliament of Great Britain. Hastings was accused of misconduct during his time in Calcutta, particularly relating to mismanagement and personal corruption.
- Overview
- Early life
- Governorship of Bengal
- Political rivalries
Warren Hastings (born December 6, 1732, Churchill, near Daylesford, Oxfordshire, England—died August 22, 1818, Daylesford) the first and most famous of the British governors-general of India, who dominated Indian affairs from 1772 to 1785 and was impeached (though acquitted) on his return to England.
The son of a clergyman of the Church of England, Hastings was abandoned by his father at an early age. He was brought up by an uncle, who gave him what was probably the best education then available for a boy of his inclinations, at Westminster School in London. Hastings showed great promise as a schoolboy and seems at Westminster to have acquired the literary and scholarly tastes that were later to give him a serious interest in Indian culture and civilization. His school days were, however, cut short by his uncle’s death in 1749. He was then taken away from school and granted a writership (as the junior appointments in the East India Company were called), and in 1750, at age 17, he sailed for Bengal.
In 1750 British contact with India was still the monopoly of the East India Company, which was engaged in buying and selling goods at small settlements in Indian ports. As one of the company’s servants, for the early part of his career Hastings was employed in the company’s commercial business. But after 1756 the outlook for both the company and its servants was radically altered. The company became involved in hostilities in India both with the French and with Indian rulers, and under Robert Clive its army was able to depose the nawab, or Indian governor, of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Although the company did not at this stage intend to set itself up as the actual ruler of the province, it was now so powerful that the new nawabs became its satellites. Thus, the servants, including Hastings, began to be drawn more and more into Indian politics. Hastings served as the company’s representative at the court of the nawabs of Bengal from 1758 to 1761 and then on the company’s Council, the controlling body for its affairs in Bengal, from 1761 to 1764. His career was cut short, however, by bitter disputes within the Council. Finding himself in a minority, Hastings resigned from the company’s service and returned to England in 1765.
Short of money, Hastings sought service in India again. In 1769 he was appointed second in Council in Madras. Two years later he received his great opportunity when he was sent back to Bengal as governor in charge of the company’s affairs there. Since he had last been in Bengal, the disintegration and demoralization of the normal Indian government ...
Hastings’s period of undisputed power in Bengal came to an end in 1774 with changes in the company’s government. He acquired the new title of governor-general and new responsibilities for supervising other British settlements in India, but these powers had now to be shared with a Supreme Council of four others, three of whom were new to India. The ...
Warren Hastings FRS (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-General of Bengal in 1772–1785.
Warren Hastings (1732 – 1818) became the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal) in 1772 and the first Governor-General of Bengal in 1774 till he resigned in 1785. He started his career as a writer (clerk) in the East India Company at Calcutta in 1750.
Oct 12, 2022 · When did Warren Hastings leave India? Warren Hastings left India in 1785, and he then faced impeachment by Parliament on charges of corruption, charges for which he was ultimately acquitted.
- Mark Cartwright
- Warren Hastings is famous for being the first Governor-General of the East India Company, appointed in 1774. He was infamously impeached by Parliam...
- Warren Hastings attempted to reduce corruption in the East India Company (EIC) and allow Indians to rule themselves under the company's suzerainty,...
Aug 12, 2021 · The impeachment of Warren Hastings was an act of imperial soul-searching unparalleled in history. Although Hastings was eventually acquitted, his trial was a warning to all future imperial proconsuls that they too could be called to account by the British Parliament.
Apr 22, 2024 · April 22, 2024 Simplified. Warren Hastings was chosen by the British East India Company to serve as Governor of Fort William in 1772. Following the Regulating Act of 1773, he was elevated to the position of Governor of Bengal and the first Governor General of Bengal.
