Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess
Cornwallis
The Most Honourable
General the Marquess Cornwallis
December 31, 1738(1738-12-31) – October 5,
1805 (aged 66)
Lord Cornwallis as painted by the English artist
Gainsborough
Place of
birth
Grosvenor Square, London,
England
Place of
death
Ghazipur, British India
Allegiance
Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/
branch
British Army
Years of
service
1757–1805
Rank
Major General
Battles/wars
Seven Years’ War
American War of
Independence
Third Mysore War
Irish Rebellion of 1798
Other work
Governor-General of India
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Corn-
wallis, KG (31 December 1738 – 5 October
1805) was a British army officer and colonial
administrator. In the United States and Bri-
tain, he is best remembered as one of the
leading generals in the American War of
Independence. His 1781 surrender to a
combined American-French force at
the
Siege of Yorktown is often incorrectly con-
sidered the end of the war; in fact, it contin-
ued for a further two years.[1] Despite this
defeat, he retained the confidence of success-
ive British governments and continued to en-
joy an active career. In India, where he
served two terms as governor general, he is
remembered for promulgating the Permanent
Settlement. As Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he
argued for Catholic emancipation and over-
saw the response to the 1798 Irish Rebellion
and a French invasion of Ireland.
Early life
Cornwallis was the eldest son of Charles
Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis (later 1st
Earl Cornwallis) (29 March, 1700 –23 June,
1762, in the Howells, near Bristol) and was
born at Grosvenor Square in London, Eng-
land, even though his family’s estates were in
Kent.
The Cornwallis family was established at
Brome Hall, near Eye, in Suffolk, in the
course of the 14th century, and members of
it occasionally represented the county in the
House of Commons during the next three
hundred years. Frederick Cornwallis, created
a Baronet in 1627, fought for King Charles I,
and followed King Charles II into exil