Gen.Sir Eyre Coote 1726 - 1783
Gen.Sir Eyre Coote , Govenor of Fort St. George. Commander in chief in India. Source: Warren Hastings and British India by Penderel Moon, pub. Hodder & Stoughton 1947 p.223... Sir Eyre Coote, who had arrived in March 1779 to take the place of Clavering [on the Council]. Coote, though a man of notoriously difficult temper, was a fine professional soldier with great experience of India. He had fought at Plassey, he was renowned for his victory over Lally at Wandiwash in 1760, and he was immensely popular with the sepoys. ...p224... During the present crisis he [Coote] stood by Hastings firmly. The first essential was to send all possible military assistance to Madras. ... he [Hastings] also proprosed that Sir Eyre Coote should be requested to proceed himself to Madras to take command in the Carnatic. Only a soldier of his high repute, he said, could restore confidence of the sepoys and retrieve the past disgraces [e.g. battle losses]..... The troops left Calcutta on October 13th and Madras was saved. In addition to these military measures diplomatic action was required. The disgruntled Nizam was contemplating hostilities, and the Rajah of Berar, pressed by others to invade Bengal, had massed 15,000 cavalry at Cuttack.... [p.225] The Nizam had been aggrieved by the occupation of Guntur. Hastings had promised him redress and had ordered the Madras Government to withdraw their troops from the district; but they refused to obey his orders, and suspended from service their representative at the Nizam's court, with whom Hastings had been in communication, on the astonishing ground that he had betrayed the secrets of his trust to the Giovernor General! Hastings promptly reappointed him as his own representative, and instructed him to give the Nizam fresh assurances that Guntur would be restored to Basalat Jang. He also took stern action against the Madras Government. On October 10th, just before Coote sailed, he proposed that Whitehill, the acting Governor should be suspended. The Council agreed, and Coote was instructed to suspend him on his arrival a Madras..... [p.227] in July 1781, [Coote] defeated Haidar Ali at Porto Novo....and in June 1782 won another victory at Arni.... [p.228] By the Autumn of 1782 Coote's health had become so bad that he had to take a sea voyage to Calcutta to recuperate...... and Coote sailed for Madras... He did not live to resume his command. During the voyage his ship was chased by some french frigates. The agitation which this caused him brought on a fatal stroke and he died almost immediately after reaching Madras." [This was April 1783] Source: The Nabobs at Home by Michael Edwardes, pub. Constable 1991 p. 54."...Sir Eyre Coote, who had a been a military critic of Clive ever since Plassey..".p108-9 [emphasises a different view of him, in that it says he was a good military man, but] " his political opinions were naive, his tact and diplomacy non-existant..." P124 - First he was to remove Governor Whitehill whose senseless provocation had brought Haidar down on Madras." This book has quite a lot about Coote. The view there is that Hastings had to "sweeten" Coote to gain his loyalty and support. One of the accusations against Hastings in his impeachment proceedings was "the granting of illegal allowances to Eyre Coote".
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| Born: Ash Hill, Killmallock, co Limerick, , Ireland 1726 | Baptised:
| | Died: 26th Apr 1783 | Buried:
| | Family: Coote |
Sources
- Family Archivists: see
Coote
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Timeline
| 1726 | Born (birth) Killmallock, co Limerick, Ireland | | 26th Apr 1783 | Died (death) |
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