Lord Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, losing America, and then spent two decades governing India and Ireland with a reputation for integrity. Born in London in 1738 into an aristocratic family, he was educated at Eton and Cambridge and studied at a military academy in Turin. He opposed the Stamp Act and the taxation of the American colonies in the House of Lords, and then accepted a command against them out of a sense of professional duty. He was among the more effective British commanders in America, winning at Camden in 1780 and at Guilford Court House in 1781, though the second cost him a quarter of his army. Nathanael Greene's strategy of retreating and forcing him to chase wore his force down. He marched into Virginia and fortified Yorktown on the coast. A French fleet under de Grasse defeated the Royal Navy at the Chesapeake, cutting him off by sea, and Washington and Rochambeau besieged him by land. He surrendered about seven thousand men on 19 October 1781, effectively ending the war. His career survived it. As Governor-General of India from 1786 he defeated Tipu Sultan, reorganised the administration, separated revenue collection from justice, and raised officials' salaries to end the private trading that had made the East India Company's servants rich. The Permanent Settlement of 1793 fixed Bengal's land revenue in perpetuity and created a landlord class, with very long consequences. He was sent to Ireland in 1798, suppressed the rebellion while restraining the militia's reprisals, and carried the Act of Union while urging Catholic emancipation. He died in India in 1805.
- Lived: 1738 CE – 1805 CE
- Nationality: British
- Roles: general, military_leader
