Brigadier-General John Carnac (1716 – 29 November 1800) was a British officer who served three times as Commander-in-Chief of India. The son of Capt. Peter Carnac (1665–1756), and Andrienne, née Lelonte (d. c.1762), he was baptised in London.

Military career

Educated at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

,John Carnac at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> John Carnac voyaged to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as a lieutenant in the 39th Regiment in 1754 and served at Madras as secretary and aide-de-camp to the colonel of the regiment,

John Adlercron Lieutenant General John Adlercron (died 31 July 1766) was Commander-in-Chief, India. Military career Born into a Huguenot family who had taken refuge in Dublin at the end of the seventeenth century, Adlercron joined the Royal Army: in 1754 he we ...

. He joined the service of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

as Captain in 1758 after transferring from the 39th foot. After his arrival in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

he became secretary and aide-de-camp to Robert Clive, governor of Bengal, and joined him in an expedition against the Prince Ali Gauhar, son of the Mughal emperor Alamgir II. In 1761 he engaged with and defeated

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His powe ...

. He became Brigadier-General in 1764 and participated with Clive in the negotiations with

Shuja-ud-Daula Shuja-ud-Daula (b. – d. ) was the Subedar and Nawab of Oudh and the Vizier of Delhi from 5 October 1754 to 26 January 1775. Early life Shuja-ud-Daula was the son of the Mughal Grand Vizier Safdarjung chosen by Ahmad Shah Bahadur. Unlik ...

and the Mughal emperor

in 1765. In 1767, Carnac resigned from the company's service in January and returned to England. He purchased an estate near Ringwood in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

and also participated in a largely unsuccessful housing development in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. From 1768 to 1773 he served as M.P. for

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster i ...

. In 1772 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

. By 1773 Carnac was short of money and he returned to India as a member of the Council at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

. He was dismissed from the East India Company for his involvement in the Convention of Wadgaon in 1779 and died at

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

in November 1800.

Family

In 1765 John Carnac married Elizabeth Woollaston. Then in 1769 he married Elizabeth Catherine Rivett (1751–80), daughter of

Thomas Rivett (1713-1763) Thomas Rivett (1679–1724) was a British politician. He was Mayor of Derby Names of the Mayors for the Borough of Derby from the first that was chosen on 3 July 1638 by the king's charter then granted to the town. The two last bailiffs wer ...

, who had been an MP and Mayor of Derby. A 1775-76 portrait of Mrs. Carnac by

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depen ...

hangs in the Wallace Collection in London; a 1778 mezzotint engraving by

John Raphael Smith John Raphael Smith (1751 – 2 March 1812) was a British painter and mezzotinter. He was the son of Thomas Smith of Derby, the landscape painter, and father of John Rubens Smith, a painter who emigrated to the United States. Biography Bapt ...

after Reynolds' painting is at the Art Museum of Estonia, with a proof impression at the British Museum. The Success hove down to the Couizer -ca

John Carnac's last will and testament made his brother-in-law James Rivett his heir, provided that he assumed the additional name of Carnac, which he did in 1801. Two of James's sons became famous: Sir

James Rivett-Carnac Sir James Rivett-Carnac, 1st Baronet (11 November 1784 – 28 January 1846) was an Indian-born British statesman and politician who served as Governor of the Bombay Presidency in British India from 1838 to 1841. Career Born in Bombay in 1784, ...

, 1st Bt, became a Governor of Bombay Presidency, while Admiral John Rivett-Carnac became an early explorer of Australia, where

Carnac Island Carnac Island (Noongar: ''Ngoorloormayup'') is a , A Class, island nature reserve about south-west of Fremantle and north of Garden Island in Western Australia. History Carnac Island is aeolianite limestone remnant of Pleistocene dunes. It ...

was named in his honor by Captain James Stirling when Rivett-Carnac was first lieutenant on on the Swan River expedition of 1827.

References

External links

James Rivett
profile. Retrieved 10 March 2009.

profile. Retrieved 10 March 2009.

profile. Retrieved 10 March 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carnac, John Administrators in British India 39th Regiment of Foot officers British East India Company Army generals 1716 births 1800 deaths British Commanders-in-Chief of India Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Fellows of the Royal Society British MPs 1768–1774