Clive, Robert (Baron Clive of Plassey)

1725 - Robert Clive was born in Styche, Market Drayton, England on the 29th of September.

1742 - He joined the East India Company.

1743 - He accepted the position of writer, the lowest rank of clerical employee in the East India Company.

1744 - He assumed his duties in the city of Madras.

1747 - He escaped and accepted a commission in the British army as an ensign.

1751 - He captured Arcot compelling the French to give up their siege of the British-held town of Trichinopoly.

1753 - He returned to England where he was welcomed as a hero.

1756 - He was in India as a governor of Fort Saint David.

1757 - He promptly broke the peace with the nawab and defeated Siraj-ud-Dawlah and his army on the 23th of June.

1760 - He returned to England and bought a seat in Parliament.

1762 - He was elevated to the Irish peerage.

1764 - He was knighted to the Irish peerage.

1763 - He returned to India as governor and commander in chief of Bengal.

1767 - He returned to England and accused him of having used his offices in India for personal enrichment and caused Parliament to impeach him.

1769 - He acquired the House and Gardens at Claremont and commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown to re-model the garden and rebuild the house.

1772 - He defend his actions against critics in Britain.

1773 - He was acquitted of charges.

1774 - He was addicted to opium at length resulted in his suicide on the 22th of November.

• "Only reason can convince us of those three fundamental truths without a recognition of which there can be no effective liberty: that what we believe is not necessarily true; that what we like is not necessarily good; and that all questions are open."
• "To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult."