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Robert Clive

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Military Personnel

The Resume

    (September 29, 1725-November 22, 1774)
    Born in Shropshire, England, United Kingdom
    British Major-General
    Commander-in-Chief in India (1756-60,1765-67)
    Defeated a combined native-French force at the Battle of Plassy (June 21, 1757)
    Conquered Bengal for the British
    Named 1st Baron Clive (1762)
    Committed suicide by stabbing himself at age 49

Why he might be annoying:

    He was expelled from three schools.
    As a youth, he ran a protection racket, vandalizing the shops of merchants who did not pay up.
    He became addicted to opium.
    Depressed while working as a clerk for the East India Company, he tried twice to shoot himself, then decided when the gun failed to go off that God was saving him for a special purpose.
    His attempt to eliminate corruption by banning civil servants from accepting gifts from Indians would have seemed more sincere if he had not just accepted 70,000 pounds left to him in the will of the late Nawab of Bengal (1765).

Why he might not be annoying:

    Despite being a bookkeeper with no military training, he successfully defended the fort at Arcot during a 50-day siege (1751).
    He regularly defeated armies that outnumbered him 10 to 1.
    Pitt the Elder called him 'the heaven-sent general.'
    He gave Major Stringer Lawrence, the first officer to recognize his military talents, a stipend of 500 pounds a year.
    A Parliamentary investigation into corruption in India cleared him of wrongdoing (1773).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 11 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 60 Votes: 63.33% Annoying