Warren Hastings
Encyclopedia
Warren Hastings PC
(6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was the first Governor-General of India
, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment
in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.
in 1732 to a poor father and a mother who died soon after he was born. He attended Westminster School
where he was a contemporary of the future Prime Ministers Lord Shelburne and the Duke of Portland. He joined the British East India Company
in 1750 as a clerk and sailed out to India reaching Calcutta in August 1750. Hastings built up a reputation for hard work and diligence, and spent his free time learning about India and mastering Urdu
and Persian. He was rewarded for his work in 1752 when he was promoted and sent to Kasimbazar, an important British trading post in Bengal
where he worked for William Watts
. While there he received further lessons about the nature of Indian politics.
At the time British traders still operated by the whim of local rulers and Hastings and his colleagues were unsettled by the political turmoil of Bengal with the elderly moderate Nawab
Alivardi Khan
likely to be succeeded by his grandson Siraj ud-Daulah
and several other rival claimants also eyeing the throne. This made the British trading posts throughout Bengal increasingly insecure as Siraj ud-Daulah was known to harbour anti-European
views and was likely to launch an attack once he took power. When Alivardi Khan died in April 1756 the British traders and small garrison at Kasimbazar were left vulnerable. On 3 June, after being surrounded by a much larger force, the British were persuaded to surrender to prevent a massacre taking place. Hastings was imprisoned with others in the Bengali capital Murshidabad
while the Nawab's forces marched on Calcutta and captured it
. The garrison and civilians were then locked up in the Black Hole of Calcutta
.
For a while Hastings remained in Murshidabad and was even used by the Nawab as an intermediary, but fearing for his life he escaped to the island of Fulta
where a number of refugees from Calcutta had taken shelter. While there he met and married Mary Buchanan, the widow of one of the victims of the Black Hole. Shortly afterwards a British expedition from Madras under Robert Clive arrived to rescue them. Hastings served as a volunteer in Clive's forces as they retook Calcutta in January 1757. After this swift defeat the Nawab urgently sought peace and the war came to an end. Clive was impressed with Hastings when he met him, and arranged for his return to Kasimbazar to resume his pre-war activities. Later in 1757 fighting began again, leading to the Battle of Plassey
, where Clive won a decisive victory over the Nawab. Following the British victory Siraj ud-Daulah was overthrown and replaced by his uncle Mir Jafar
who initiated pro-British policies.
in the Bengali capital of Murshidabad
, a major step forwards in his career, at the instigation of Clive. His role in the city was ostensibly that of an ambassador
but as Bengal was increasingly under the dominance of the East India Company he was often given the task of issuing orders to the new Nawab on behalf of Clive and the Calcutta authorities. Hastings personally sympathised with Mir Jafar and believed many of the demands placed on him by the Company were excessive. Hastings had already developed a philosophy that was grounded in trying to establish a more understanding relationship with India's inhabitants and their rulers and he often tried to mediate between the two sides.
During Mir Jafair's reign the East India Company exerted an increasingly large role in the running of the region, and effectively took over the defence of Bengal against external invaders when Bengal's troops proved insufficient for the task. As he grew older Mir Jafar was gradually less able to rule the state, and in 1760 British troops ousted him from power and replaced him with Mir Qasim
. Hastings expressed his doubts to Calcutta over the move, believing they were honour bound to support Mir Jafar, but his opinions were overuled. Hastings once more established a good relationship with the new Nawab and again had misgivings about the demands he relayed from his superiors. In 1761 he was recalled and appointed to the Calcutta council.
Ultimately, little was done to stem the abuses and Hastings began to consider quitting his post and returning to Britain. His resignation was only delayed by the outbreak of fresh fighting in Bengal. Once on the throne Qasim proved increasingly independent in his actions, and he rebuilt Bengal's army by hiring European instructors and mercenaries who greatly improved the standard of his forces. He felt gradually more confident and in 1764 when a dispute broke out in the settlement of Patna
he captured its British garrison and threatened to execute them if the East India Company responded militarily. When Calcutta dispatched troops anyway, Mir Qasir executed the hostages. British forces then went on the attack and won a series of battles culminating in the decisive Battle of Buxar
in October 1764. After this Mir Qasim fled into exile in Delhi
where he later died. The East India Company now received the right to collect taxes in Bengal, and effectively took total control over the territory.
in spite of the fact that, unlike many of his contemparies, he had not amassed a fortune while in India. Eventually, having run up enormous debts, Hastings realised he needed to return to India to restore his finances and applied to the East India Company for employment. His application was initially rejected as he had made many political enemies including the powerful director Laurence Sulivan. Eventually an appeal to Sulivan's rival Robert Clive secured Hastings the position of deputy ruler at the city of Madras. He sailed from Dover
in March 1769. On the voyage he met the German Baroness Imhoff and her husband. He soon fell in love with the Baroness and they began an affair, seemingly with her husband's consent. Hastings first wife, Mary, had died in 1759 and he planned to marry the Baroness once she had obtained a divorce from her husband. The process took a long time and it was not until 1777 when news of divorce came from Germany that Hastings was finally able to marry her.
during which the city had been threatened with capture by the forces of Hyder Ali
. The Treaty of Madras
which ended the war failed to settle the dispute and there were three further wars. During his time at Madras he initiated reforms of trading practices which cut out the use of middlemen
and benefited both the Company and the Indian labourers but otherwise the period was relatively uneventful for him.
By this stage Hastings shared Clive's view that the three major British Presidencies (settlements), Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, should all be brought under a single rule rather than being governed separately as they currently were. In 1771 he was appointed to be Governor of Calcutta, the most important of the Presidencies
. In Britain moves were underway to reform the divided system of government and create a single rule across all of British India with its capital in Calcutta. Hastings was considered the natural choice to be the first Governor General.
While Governor, Hastings launched a major crackdown on bandits operation in Bengal which was largely successful. He also had to deal with the fallout of a famine
that had broken out.
In 1784, after ten years of service, during which he helped extend and regularise the nascent Raj created by Clive of India, Hastings resigned. On his return to England he was charged in Parliament with high crimes and misdemeanours by Edmund Burke
, who was encouraged by Sir Philip Francis
, whom Hastings had wounded during a duel in India. He was impeached in 1787
, but the trial, which ran from 1788 to 1795, ended in acquittal. Though Hastings spent most of his fortune on his defence, the East India Company provided substantial financial support towards the end of the trial.
His supporters from the Edinburgh
East India Club, as well as a number of other gentlemen from India, gave a reportedly "elegant entertainment" for Hastings when he visited Edinburgh. A toast on the occasion went to the "Prosperity to our settlements in India" and wished that "the virtue and talents which preserved them be ever remembered with gratitude."
In 1788 he acquired the estate at Daylesford, Gloucestershire
, including the site of the medieval seat of the Hastings family. In the following years, he remodelled the mansion to the designs of Samuel Pepys Cockerell
, with classical and Indian decoration, and gardens landscaped by John Davenport
. He also rebuilt the Norman
church in 1816, where he was buried two years later.
Under Hastings's term as Governor General, a great deal of administrative precedent was set which profoundly shaped later attitudes towards the government of British India. Hastings had a great respect for the ancient scripture of Hinduism
and set the British position on governance as one of looking back to the earliest precedents possible. This allowed Brahmin
advisors to mould the law, as no English person thoroughly understood Sanskrit
until Sir William Jones
, and, even then, a literal translation was of little use; it needed to be elucidated by religious commentators who were well-versed in the lore and application. This approach accentuated the Hindu caste
system and, to an extent, the frameworks of other religions, which had, at least in recent centuries, been somewhat more flexibly applied. Thus, British influence on the fluid social structure of India can in large part be characterised as a solidification of the privileges of the Hindu caste system through the influence of the exclusively high-caste scholars by whom the British were advised in the formation of their laws.
In 1781, Hastings founded Madrasa 'Aliya
, later in 2007 it was transformed in Aliah University by the Government of India
, at Calcutta. Also, in 1784 Hastings supported the foundation of the Bengal Asiatic Society now Asiatic Society of Bengal by the oriental scholar Sir William Jones, which became a storehouse for information and data pertaining to the subcontinent, and existed in various institutional guises up to the present day.
Hastings' legacy has been somewhat dualistic as an Indian administrator, he undoubtedly was able to institute reforms during the time he spent as governor there that would change the path that India would follow over the next several years. He did, however, retain the strange distinction of being both the “architect of British India and the one ruler of British India to whom the creation of such an entity was anathema."
_(includes_edmund_burke_charles_james_fox_sir_philip_francis_warren_hastings)_by_james_sayers.jpg)
He was impeached for crimes and misdemeanours during his time in India in the House of Commons
upon his return to England
. At first deemed unlikely to succeed, the prosecution was managed by MPs including Edmund Burke
, Charles James Fox
and Richard Brinsley Sheridan
. When the charges of his indictment were read, the twenty counts took Edmund Burke
two full days to read.
The house sat for a total of 148 days over a period of seven years during the investigation. The investigation was pursued at great cost to Hastings personally, and he complained constantly that the cost of defending himself from the prosecution was bankrupting him. He is rumoured to have once stated that the punishment given him would have been less extreme had he pleaded guilty. The House of Lords
finally made its decision on April 1795 acquitting him on all charges.
Throughout the long years of the trial, Hastings lived in considerable style at his town house
, Somerset House, Park Lane
. Among the many who supported him in print was the pamphleteer and versifier Ralph Broome
. Others disturbed by the perceived injustice of the proceedings included Fanny Burney.
and the Melbourne
outer suburb of Hastings, Victoria, Australia
were both named after him.
'Hastings' is the name of one of the 4 School Houses in La Martiniere for Boys, Calcutta. It is represented by the colour red.
'Hastings' is a Senior Wing House at St Paul's School, Darjeeling
, India
, where all the senior wing houses are named after Anglo-Indian colonial figures.
There is also a road in Kolkata, India named after him.
Warren Hastings ka saand is a docu-drama based on Indian writer Uday Prakash
's story by the same name, recreated on stage by the director Arvind Gaur
. Warren Hastings ka saandi is a socio-economic political satire. The play is a representation of Warren Hastings's interaction with traditional India.
----
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was the first Governor-General of India
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment
Impeachment of Warren Hastings
The Impeachment of Warren Hastings was a failed attempt to impeach the former Governor-General of India Warren Hastings in the Parliament of Great Britain between 1788 and 1795. Hastings was accused of misconduct during his time in Calcutta particularly relating to mismanagement and personal...
in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.
Early life
Warren Hastings was born at Churchill, OxfordshireChurchill, Oxfordshire
Churchill is a village and civil parish about southwest of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History:...
in 1732 to a poor father and a mother who died soon after he was born. He attended Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
where he was a contemporary of the future Prime Ministers Lord Shelburne and the Duke of Portland. He joined the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
in 1750 as a clerk and sailed out to India reaching Calcutta in August 1750. Hastings built up a reputation for hard work and diligence, and spent his free time learning about India and mastering Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
and Persian. He was rewarded for his work in 1752 when he was promoted and sent to Kasimbazar, an important British trading post in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
where he worked for William Watts
William Watts
William Watts was chief of the Kasimbazar factory of the British East India Company. He lived in Bengal, and he was proficient in Bangla, Hindustani and Persian languages.-Career:...
. While there he received further lessons about the nature of Indian politics.
At the time British traders still operated by the whim of local rulers and Hastings and his colleagues were unsettled by the political turmoil of Bengal with the elderly moderate Nawab
Nawab of Bengal
The Nawabs of Bengal were the hereditary nazims or subadars of the subah of Bengal during the Mughal rule and the de-facto rulers of the province.-History:...
Alivardi Khan
Alivardi Khan
Ali Vardi Khan was the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa during 1740 - 1756. He toppled the Nasiri Dynasty of Bengal and took power as Nawab.-Early life:...
likely to be succeeded by his grandson Siraj ud-Daulah
Siraj ud-Daulah
Mîrzâ Muhammad Sirâj-ud-Daulah , more commonly known as Siraj ud-Daulah , was the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The end of his reign marks the start of British East India Company rule over Bengal and later almost all of South Asia...
and several other rival claimants also eyeing the throne. This made the British trading posts throughout Bengal increasingly insecure as Siraj ud-Daulah was known to harbour anti-European
Anti-Europeanism
Anti-Europeanism refers to rejection of the culture of Europe and Europeanisation, sentiments, opinions and discrimination against European ethnic groups, and criticism of policies of European governments and the European Union...
views and was likely to launch an attack once he took power. When Alivardi Khan died in April 1756 the British traders and small garrison at Kasimbazar were left vulnerable. On 3 June, after being surrounded by a much larger force, the British were persuaded to surrender to prevent a massacre taking place. Hastings was imprisoned with others in the Bengali capital Murshidabad
Murshidabad
Murshidabad is a city in Murshidabad district of West Bengal state in India. The city of Murshidabad is located on the southern bank of the Bhagirathi, a distributary of the Ganges River. It was the capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule. Nawabs of Bengal used to rule Bengal from this...
while the Nawab's forces marched on Calcutta and captured it
Siege of Calcutta
The Siege of Calcutta was a battle between the British Honourable East India Company, and Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal in India. The Nawab aimed to recapture the city of Calcutta from European control, after tensions had risen due to the East India Company building fortifications in case of...
. The garrison and civilians were then locked up in the Black Hole of Calcutta
Black Hole of Calcutta
The Black Hole of Calcutta was a small dungeon in the old Fort William, at Calcutta, India, where troops of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, held British prisoners of war after the capture of the Fort on June 19, 1756....
.
For a while Hastings remained in Murshidabad and was even used by the Nawab as an intermediary, but fearing for his life he escaped to the island of Fulta
Fulta
Phulta is a village in Ganjam, Orissa, India. It is several kilometers away from the city of Berhampur. In 1756, a multitude of British settlers sought refuge in Fulta after the nawab Sirajuddaula enjoyed control of Calcutta...
where a number of refugees from Calcutta had taken shelter. While there he met and married Mary Buchanan, the widow of one of the victims of the Black Hole. Shortly afterwards a British expedition from Madras under Robert Clive arrived to rescue them. Hastings served as a volunteer in Clive's forces as they retook Calcutta in January 1757. After this swift defeat the Nawab urgently sought peace and the war came to an end. Clive was impressed with Hastings when he met him, and arranged for his return to Kasimbazar to resume his pre-war activities. Later in 1757 fighting began again, leading to the Battle of Plassey
Battle of Plassey
The Battle of Plassey , 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years...
, where Clive won a decisive victory over the Nawab. Following the British victory Siraj ud-Daulah was overthrown and replaced by his uncle Mir Jafar
Mir Jafar
-Notes:# "Riyazu-s-salatin", Ghulam Husain Salim - a reference to the appointment of Mohanlal can be found # "Seir Muaqherin", Ghulam Husain Tabatabai - a reference to the conspiracy can be found...
who initiated pro-British policies.
Resident
In 1758 Hastings was made the British ResidentResident (title)
A Resident, or in full Resident Minister, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indirect rule....
in the Bengali capital of Murshidabad
Murshidabad
Murshidabad is a city in Murshidabad district of West Bengal state in India. The city of Murshidabad is located on the southern bank of the Bhagirathi, a distributary of the Ganges River. It was the capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule. Nawabs of Bengal used to rule Bengal from this...
, a major step forwards in his career, at the instigation of Clive. His role in the city was ostensibly that of an ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
but as Bengal was increasingly under the dominance of the East India Company he was often given the task of issuing orders to the new Nawab on behalf of Clive and the Calcutta authorities. Hastings personally sympathised with Mir Jafar and believed many of the demands placed on him by the Company were excessive. Hastings had already developed a philosophy that was grounded in trying to establish a more understanding relationship with India's inhabitants and their rulers and he often tried to mediate between the two sides.
During Mir Jafair's reign the East India Company exerted an increasingly large role in the running of the region, and effectively took over the defence of Bengal against external invaders when Bengal's troops proved insufficient for the task. As he grew older Mir Jafar was gradually less able to rule the state, and in 1760 British troops ousted him from power and replaced him with Mir Qasim
Mir Qasim
Mir Qasim was Nawab of Bengal from 1760 to 1764. He was installed as Nawab by the British East India Company replacing Mir Jafar, his father-in-law, who had himself been installed by the British after his role in the Battle of Plassey...
. Hastings expressed his doubts to Calcutta over the move, believing they were honour bound to support Mir Jafar, but his opinions were overuled. Hastings once more established a good relationship with the new Nawab and again had misgivings about the demands he relayed from his superiors. In 1761 he was recalled and appointed to the Calcutta council.
Conquest of Bengal
Hastings was personally angered when he conducted an investigation into trading abuses in Bengal. He alleged some European and British-allied Indian merchants were taking advantage of the situation to personally enrich themselves. Widespread fraud was practiced and illegal trading took place by figures who travelled under the unauthorised protection of the British flag, knowing that local customs officials would therefore be cowed into not interfering with them. Hastings felt this was bringing shame on Britain's reputation, and he urged the ruling authorities in Calcutta to put an end to it. The Council considered his report but ultimately rejected Hastings' proposals and he was fiercely criticised by other members, many of whom had themselves profited from the trade.Ultimately, little was done to stem the abuses and Hastings began to consider quitting his post and returning to Britain. His resignation was only delayed by the outbreak of fresh fighting in Bengal. Once on the throne Qasim proved increasingly independent in his actions, and he rebuilt Bengal's army by hiring European instructors and mercenaries who greatly improved the standard of his forces. He felt gradually more confident and in 1764 when a dispute broke out in the settlement of Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
he captured its British garrison and threatened to execute them if the East India Company responded militarily. When Calcutta dispatched troops anyway, Mir Qasir executed the hostages. British forces then went on the attack and won a series of battles culminating in the decisive Battle of Buxar
Battle of Buxar
The Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula Nawab of Awadh; and Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor...
in October 1764. After this Mir Qasim fled into exile in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
where he later died. The East India Company now received the right to collect taxes in Bengal, and effectively took total control over the territory.
Return to Britain
Hastings resigned in December 1764 and sailed for Britain the following month. He was left deeply saddened by the failure of the more moderate strategy he supported which had been rejected by the hawkish members of the Calcutta Council. Oncehe arrived in London Hastings began spending far beyond his means. He stayed in fashionable adresses and had his picture painted by Joshua ReynoldsJoshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
in spite of the fact that, unlike many of his contemparies, he had not amassed a fortune while in India. Eventually, having run up enormous debts, Hastings realised he needed to return to India to restore his finances and applied to the East India Company for employment. His application was initially rejected as he had made many political enemies including the powerful director Laurence Sulivan. Eventually an appeal to Sulivan's rival Robert Clive secured Hastings the position of deputy ruler at the city of Madras. He sailed from Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
in March 1769. On the voyage he met the German Baroness Imhoff and her husband. He soon fell in love with the Baroness and they began an affair, seemingly with her husband's consent. Hastings first wife, Mary, had died in 1759 and he planned to marry the Baroness once she had obtained a divorce from her husband. The process took a long time and it was not until 1777 when news of divorce came from Germany that Hastings was finally able to marry her.
Madras and Calcutta
Hastings arrived in Madras shortly after the end of the First Anglo-Mysore WarFirst Anglo-Mysore War
The First Anglo-Mysore War was a war in India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company. The war was instigated in part by the machinations of Asaf Jah II, the Nizam of Hyderabad, who sought to divert the company's resources from attempts to gain control of the Northern...
during which the city had been threatened with capture by the forces of Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born Hyder Naik, he distinguished himself militarily, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers...
. The Treaty of Madras
Treaty of Madras
The Treaty of Madras was a peace agreement signed in 1769 between Mysore and the British East India Company which brought an end to the First Anglo-Mysore War. Fighting had broken out in 1767 and the forces of Hyder Ali had come close to capturing Madras at one point.The Treaty contained a clause...
which ended the war failed to settle the dispute and there were three further wars. During his time at Madras he initiated reforms of trading practices which cut out the use of middlemen
Reseller
A reseller is a company or individual that purchases goods or services with the intention of reselling them rather than consuming or using them. This is usually done for profit...
and benefited both the Company and the Indian labourers but otherwise the period was relatively uneventful for him.
By this stage Hastings shared Clive's view that the three major British Presidencies (settlements), Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, should all be brought under a single rule rather than being governed separately as they currently were. In 1771 he was appointed to be Governor of Calcutta, the most important of the Presidencies
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency originally comprising east and west Bengal, was a colonial region of the British Empire in South-Asia and beyond it. It comprised areas which are now within Bangladesh, and the present day Indian States of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Meghalaya, Orissa and Tripura.Penang and...
. In Britain moves were underway to reform the divided system of government and create a single rule across all of British India with its capital in Calcutta. Hastings was considered the natural choice to be the first Governor General.
While Governor, Hastings launched a major crackdown on bandits operation in Bengal which was largely successful. He also had to deal with the fallout of a famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
that had broken out.
Governor General
In 1773, he was appointed the first Governor-General of Bengal. The post was new, and British mechanisms to administer the territory were not fully developed. Regardless of his title, Hastings was only a member of a five man council so confusedly structured that it was difficult to tell what constitutional position Hastings actually held.In 1784, after ten years of service, during which he helped extend and regularise the nascent Raj created by Clive of India, Hastings resigned. On his return to England he was charged in Parliament with high crimes and misdemeanours by Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
, who was encouraged by Sir Philip Francis
Philip Francis (English politician)
Sir Philip Francis was an Irish-born British politician and pamphleteer, the possible author of the Letters of Junius, and the chief antagonist of Warren Hastings. His accusations against the latter led to the Impeachment of Warren Hastings by Parliament.-Early life:Born in Dublin, he was the only...
, whom Hastings had wounded during a duel in India. He was impeached in 1787
Impeachment of Warren Hastings
The Impeachment of Warren Hastings was a failed attempt to impeach the former Governor-General of India Warren Hastings in the Parliament of Great Britain between 1788 and 1795. Hastings was accused of misconduct during his time in Calcutta particularly relating to mismanagement and personal...
, but the trial, which ran from 1788 to 1795, ended in acquittal. Though Hastings spent most of his fortune on his defence, the East India Company provided substantial financial support towards the end of the trial.
His supporters from the Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
East India Club, as well as a number of other gentlemen from India, gave a reportedly "elegant entertainment" for Hastings when he visited Edinburgh. A toast on the occasion went to the "Prosperity to our settlements in India" and wished that "the virtue and talents which preserved them be ever remembered with gratitude."
In 1788 he acquired the estate at Daylesford, Gloucestershire
Daylesford, Gloucestershire
Daylesford is a small village in Gloucestershire, England, on the border with Oxfordshire. It is situated off the A436 near Stow-on-the-Wold and five miles west of Chipping Norton. The village is on the north bank of the small River Evenlode...
, including the site of the medieval seat of the Hastings family. In the following years, he remodelled the mansion to the designs of Samuel Pepys Cockerell
Samuel Pepys Cockerell
Samuel Pepys Cockerell was an English architect. He was the son of John Cockerell, of Bishop's Hull, Somerset, and the brother of Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet, for whom he designed the house he is best known for, Sezincote House, Gloucestershire, where the uniquely Orientalizing features...
, with classical and Indian decoration, and gardens landscaped by John Davenport
John Davenport
John Davenport may refer to:* John Davenport , Puritan minister and colonist in New Haven Colony* John Davenport , U.S. Representative from Connecticut, 1799–1816...
. He also rebuilt the Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
church in 1816, where he was buried two years later.
Hastings's administrative ethos and legacy
During the final quarter of the eighteenth century, many of the Company's senior administrators realised that in order to govern Indian society, it was essential that they learn its various religious, social, and legal customs and precedents. The importance of such knowledge to the colonial government was clearly in Hastings's mind when, in 1784, he remarked that:“Every application of knowledge and especially such as is obtained in social communication with people, over whom we exercise dominion, founded on the right of conquest, is useful to the state … It attracts and conciliates distant affections, it lessens the weight of the chain by which the natives are held in subjection and it imprints on the hearts of our countrymen the sense of obligation and benevolence… Every instance which brings their real character will impress us with more generous sense of feeling for their natural rights, and teach us to estimate them by the measure of our own… But such instances can only be gained in their writings; and these will survive when British domination in India shall have long ceased to exist, and when the sources which once yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance”
Under Hastings's term as Governor General, a great deal of administrative precedent was set which profoundly shaped later attitudes towards the government of British India. Hastings had a great respect for the ancient scripture of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and set the British position on governance as one of looking back to the earliest precedents possible. This allowed Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
advisors to mould the law, as no English person thoroughly understood Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
until Sir William Jones
William Jones (philologist)
Sir William Jones was an English philologist and scholar of ancient India, particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among Indo-European languages...
, and, even then, a literal translation was of little use; it needed to be elucidated by religious commentators who were well-versed in the lore and application. This approach accentuated the Hindu caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
system and, to an extent, the frameworks of other religions, which had, at least in recent centuries, been somewhat more flexibly applied. Thus, British influence on the fluid social structure of India can in large part be characterised as a solidification of the privileges of the Hindu caste system through the influence of the exclusively high-caste scholars by whom the British were advised in the formation of their laws.
In 1781, Hastings founded Madrasa 'Aliya
Madrasa 'Aliya
Aliah University, is an autonomous university, as well as a minority institute whose goal is the overall educational improvement of Muslims, in Kolkata, India. It was founded in 2007, when the Aliah University Act XXVII was passed by the West Bengal Legislative Assembly...
, later in 2007 it was transformed in Aliah University by the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
, at Calcutta. Also, in 1784 Hastings supported the foundation of the Bengal Asiatic Society now Asiatic Society of Bengal by the oriental scholar Sir William Jones, which became a storehouse for information and data pertaining to the subcontinent, and existed in various institutional guises up to the present day.
Hastings' legacy has been somewhat dualistic as an Indian administrator, he undoubtedly was able to institute reforms during the time he spent as governor there that would change the path that India would follow over the next several years. He did, however, retain the strange distinction of being both the “architect of British India and the one ruler of British India to whom the creation of such an entity was anathema."
Impeachment
House of Commons of Great Britain
The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of the Parliament of Scotland, as one of the most significant...
upon his return to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. At first deemed unlikely to succeed, the prosecution was managed by MPs including Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
, Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...
and Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
. When the charges of his indictment were read, the twenty counts took Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
two full days to read.
The house sat for a total of 148 days over a period of seven years during the investigation. The investigation was pursued at great cost to Hastings personally, and he complained constantly that the cost of defending himself from the prosecution was bankrupting him. He is rumoured to have once stated that the punishment given him would have been less extreme had he pleaded guilty. The House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
finally made its decision on April 1795 acquitting him on all charges.
Throughout the long years of the trial, Hastings lived in considerable style at his town house
Townhouse
A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year...
, Somerset House, Park Lane
Somerset House, Park Lane
Somerset House, Park Lane , was an 18th century town house on the east side of Park Lane, where it meets Oxford Street, in the Mayfair area of London, England...
. Among the many who supported him in print was the pamphleteer and versifier Ralph Broome
Ralph Broome (pamphleteer)
-Life and career:The third son of Ralph Broome of the manor of Bushton, Wiltshire, Broome was sent as a cadet to India, where he acquired Oriental languages, including Persian, and became a judge advocate with the rank of captain in the Bengal Army. While there he fathered a daughter Miriam by an...
. Others disturbed by the perceived injustice of the proceedings included Fanny Burney.
Legacy
The city of Hastings, New ZealandHastings, New Zealand
The city of Hastings is a major urban settlement in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand, and it is the largest settlement by population in Hawke's Bay. Hastings city is the administrative centre of the Hastings District...
and the Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
outer suburb of Hastings, Victoria, Australia
Hastings, Victoria
Hastings is a suburb on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, as a part of the urban enclave on Westernport comprising Hastings, Bittern, Crib Point, Tyabb, and Somerville. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Mornington Peninsula...
were both named after him.
'Hastings' is the name of one of the 4 School Houses in La Martiniere for Boys, Calcutta. It is represented by the colour red.
'Hastings' is a Senior Wing House at St Paul's School, Darjeeling
St Paul's School, Darjeeling
Founded in 1823, St. Paul's School is one of Asia's oldest and most pre-eminent private boarding schools known for its rich academic tradition and elite alumni base. It is located in the town of Darjeeling, in the far northern portion of India. At about above sea level, it is the highest private...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, where all the senior wing houses are named after Anglo-Indian colonial figures.
There is also a road in Kolkata, India named after him.
Warren Hastings ka saand is a docu-drama based on Indian writer Uday Prakash
Uday Prakash
Uday Prakash is an eminent scholar, and a prolific Hindi poet, journalist, translator and short story writer.His writing spans fiction, non-fiction, and critically acclaimed films and documentaries. He has worked as an administrator, an editor, a researcher, and a TV director...
's story by the same name, recreated on stage by the director Arvind Gaur
Arvind Gaur
Arvind Gaur , Indian theatre director, is known for his work in innovative, socially and politically relevant theatre. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social political issues...
. Warren Hastings ka saandi is a socio-economic political satire. The play is a representation of Warren Hastings's interaction with traditional India.
See also
- British EmpireBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
- British East India CompanyBritish East India CompanyThe East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
- Robert Clive
- NawabNawabA Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
- Alivardi KhanAlivardi KhanAli Vardi Khan was the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa during 1740 - 1756. He toppled the Nasiri Dynasty of Bengal and took power as Nawab.-Early life:...
- Siraj ud-DaulahSiraj ud-DaulahMîrzâ Muhammad Sirâj-ud-Daulah , more commonly known as Siraj ud-Daulah , was the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The end of his reign marks the start of British East India Company rule over Bengal and later almost all of South Asia...
- Battle of PlasseyBattle of PlasseyThe Battle of Plassey , 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years...
- Mir JafarMir Jafar-Notes:# "Riyazu-s-salatin", Ghulam Husain Salim - a reference to the appointment of Mohanlal can be found # "Seir Muaqherin", Ghulam Husain Tabatabai - a reference to the conspiracy can be found...
- Mughal EmpireMughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
- Shah Alam IIShah Alam IIShah Alam II , also known as Ali Gauhar, was a Mughal emperor of India. A son of Alamgir II, he was exiled to Allahabad in December 1759 by Ghazi-ud-Din, who appointed Shah Jahan III as the emperor. Later, he was nominated as the emperor by Ahmad Shah.Shah Alam II was considered the only and...
- Battle of BuxarBattle of BuxarThe Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula Nawab of Awadh; and Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor...
- Anglo-Mysore War
- Hyder AliHyder AliHyder Ali was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born Hyder Naik, he distinguished himself militarily, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers...
External links
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