Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Sir Eyre Coote, KB ( – 28 April 1783) was a British army officer and politician who represented

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

in the

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 1707, Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the Pa ...

from 1768 to 1780. He is best known for his many years of service with the

Bengal Army The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Gover ...

in India, where his victory at the Battle of Wandiwash was considered a decisive turning point in the struggle for control over the region between Britain and France. Coote was known by his

sepoy ''Sepoy'' () is a term related to ''sipahi'', denoting professional Indian infantrymen, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire and the Maratha. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its Euro ...

troops as Coote Bahadur (Coote the Brave).

Early life

A member of the Coote family headed by the Earl of Mountrath, he was born in

Kilmallock Kilmallock () is a town in south County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, near the border with County Cork, 30 km south of Limerick city. There is a Dominican Priory in the town and King John's Castle (Kilmallock), King's Castle (or K ...

, near

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

, Ireland, the son of the

Reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...

Chidley Coote and Jane Evans, daughter of George Evans, and sister of George Evans, 1st Baron Carbery. He entered the 27th Regiment of Foot. He first saw active service in the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...

, and later obtained a captaincy in the 39th Regiment, the first regular British regiment to serve in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Career in India

Recapture of Calcutta

In 1756 a part of the regiment, then quartered at

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, was sent forward to join

Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British List of governors of Bengal Presidency, Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for l ...

in his operations against

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

which had recently been captured by the forces of the Nawab of Bengal, which had been followed by the

Black Hole of Calcutta The Black Hole of Calcutta was a dungeon in Fort William, West Bengal, Fort William, Calcutta, measuring , in which troops of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawabs of Bengal, Nawab of Bengal, held British Prisoner of war, prisoners of war on the night ...

. The city was reoccupied without difficulty in January 1757. However, Coote and Clive argued so violently over who should reoccupy Fort William that they almost fired at each other, which began a lifelong rivalry and hatred between the two men.

Plassey

Coote was soon given the local rank of major for his good conduct in surprising the camp of the

Nawab of Bengal The Nawab of Bengal (, ) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa which constitute the mod ...

. Soon afterwards came the

Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company, under the leadership of Robert Clive, over the Nawab of Bengal and his French Indies Company, French allies on 23 June 1757. The victory was made possible by the de ...

, which would probably never have taken place but for Coote's advice at the council of war; after the defeat of the Nawab he led a detachment in pursuit of the French for 400 miles under extraordinary difficulties. His conduct won him the rank of lieutenant colonel and the command of the 84th Regiment of Foot, newly raised in Britain for Indian service, but his exertions had seriously damaged his health.

Wandiwash

In October 1759 Coote's regiment arrived to take part in the decisive struggle between French and British in the Carnatic. He took command of the forces at Madras, where a French siege had recently been defeated, and on 22 January 1760 led them in the decisive victory of Wandiwash. After a time the remnants of Lally's forces were besieged in

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

. For some reason Coote was not entrusted with the siege operations, but loyally supported William Monson, who brought the siege to a successful end on 15 January 1761. In the latter year he sat for Maryborough in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

. Soon afterwards Coote was given the command of the

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

's forces in

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, and settled a serious dispute between the

Nawab Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...

Mir Qasim Mir Qasim () was the Nawab of Bengal from 1760 to 1763. He was installed as Nawab with the support of the British East India Company, replacing Mir Jafar, his father-in-law, who had himself been supported earlier by the East India Company afte ...

and a powerful subordinate.

Member of Parliament

In 1762, he returned to Britain, receiving a jewelled sword of honour from the company and other rewards for his great services. In 1771 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Bath. In 1768, he was elected M.P. for the borough of

in the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...

, before transferring to

, nearer his Hampshire estates, in 1774. He relinquished the seat in 1780 after his last return to India.Article by G.J. Bryant.

Return to India

In 1779 he sailed on to India to assume the role of commander in chief of the company forces in India. He allied himself to

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (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-gener ...

, the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

who generally deferred to him and gave him a free hand over military matters, in opposition to Hasting's opponents on the ruling Council Edward Wheler and Philip Francis. He spent much of his time visiting outlying garrisons and chose to attend meetings of the Calcutta Council only when it was necessary to pass some important measure. Without Coote's support, Hastings was likely to be outvoted on the council. This situation only ended when Francis returned home where he began to stir up criticism of Hastings' conduct which ultimately led to his failed impeachment.

Second Anglo-Mysore War

Following

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali (''Haidar'alī''; ; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's ...

's opening of the

Second Anglo-Mysore War The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in t ...

in southern India, Coote returned to active service. It was not until 1 June 1781 that Coote struck the first heavy blow against Hyder in the decisive Battle of Porto Novo. The battle was won by Coote against odds of five to one. It was followed up by another hard-fought battle at Pollilur (the scene of an earlier triumph of Hyder over a British force) on 27 August, in which the British won another success, and by the rout of the Mysore troops at

Sholinghur } Sholinghapuram, shortened to Sholinghur (in Tamil: சோளிங்கப்புரம் or சோளிங்கர்) is a municipality under Sholinghur taluk in Ranipet District, Vellore region of Tamil Nadu, India. The town is fam ...

a month later. His last service was the arduous campaign of 1782, which finally shattered a constitution already gravely impaired by hardship and exertions.

Death

In 1782, Coote relinquished his command, and moved to Calcutta. However amid increasing French harassment, and ruptures between the governor and new commander in chief, Hastings persuaded Coote to return to his command. He died of a stroke soon after returning to Madras on 28 April 1783. His body was brought back to England and buried in the parish church of

Rockbourne Rockbourne is a village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire, close to Fordingbridge. Overview Rockbourne is a village of thatched, brick and timber houses, next to a stream now known as Sweatfords Water.Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, the location of his estate.

Legacy

Coote is generally remembered for his victory at Wandiwash and capture of

which were decisive moments in the struggle between Britain and France for dominance in India.Turnbull p.129 Although he often quarrelled with other British officers and officials, Coote was adored by the

troops under his command. Following his death a monument was erected to him in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

and another, in the form of a tall column, within his estate at West Park,

. His nephew was Eyre Coote who served as Governor General of India. He had married in 1769 a daughter of Charles Hutchinson, Governor of

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

. They had no children, and his property, worth over £200,000, was left to his brother, Doctor Charles Coote, Dean of Kilfenora, in

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

, Ireland. Richard Ryan, ''Biographia Hibernica'', 1821, p. 20 In his autobiography the American General and Secretary of State

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...

claims direct descent from Coote's identically named nephew Eyre Coote while the latter was serving as Governor of Jamaica, which has led to Powell sometimes being incorrectly referred to as a direct descendant of the elder General Coote.

Bibliography

* Harvey, Robert. ''Clive: The life and Death of a British Emperor''. Hodder and Stoughton, 1998. * Sheppard E. W. ''Coote Bahadur: A Life of Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote, KB'' Werner Laurie 1956 * Turnbull, Patrick. ''Warren Hastings''. New English Library, 1975.

References

External links

*
Eyre Coote papers
William L. Clements Library,

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

.
COOTE, Eyre (1726–1783), of West Park, nr. Rockbourn, Hants.
at

The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

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