Robert Clive, often referred to as Clive of India, remains one of the most controversial figures in imperial history. While British hagiography once cast him as a "heaven-born general," modern historical perspective—and the growing movement to remove his statue from Whitehall—paints a much darker picture: that of a mercenary who pioneered the corporate takeover of a nation.
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| Robert Clive news18.com |
Above image Clive's Loot rom Bengal alone made him the richest 'Self-made Man' in Europe
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| Robert Clive theweek.in |
Clive’s primary legacy is the institutionalization of "loot"—a word that entered the English dictionary specifically to describe the East India Company's (EIC) activities in India. Following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Clive installed Mir Jafar as a puppet Nawab, effectively turning the EIC from a trading entity into a ruling power. He was the architect of corporate imperialism that had its own Army in India that helped the English company's greed for seizing the kingdoms across India.
His most significant "masterstroke" was extracting the Diwani (the right to collect revenue) for Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha from the Mughal Emperor in 1765. This allowed the EIC to use Indian tax money to buy Indian goods for export, a circular system of extraction that stripped the region of its wealth. Historians estimate Clive’s personal "first loot" was valued at £250 million in today’s currency.
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| East India Company acebook.com |
Why Was He Called a "Nabob"?
In 18th-century Britain, Clive and his colleagues were disparagingly labeled "Nabobs"—a corruption of the Indian title Nawab. This term was used to describe EIC officials who returned to England with staggering, often ill-gotten fortunes.
Clive was the ultimate "Nouveau Riche" Nabob because:
Ostentatious Wealth: He amassed a fortune beyond the limit that bought him political power, including a seat in Parliament and a peerage (Baron Clive of Plassey).
Extravagant Lifestyle: He acquired grand estates like Claremont House and filled them with treasures. His wife, Margaret, was so influential that Mozart performed in their home.
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| Claremont House,England .geograph.org.uk |
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| Claremont House,England historicengland.org.uk |
Above image: Claremont is a Palladian mansion completed in 1774 and designed by Lancelot (Capability) Brown, for Lord Clive of India, with later involvement of Henry Holland and John Soane. Clive had bought the estate in 1768 and commissioned Brown to build the new house on higher and drier ground than the building previously on the site.It was bought in 1714 by Thomas Pelham-Holles, Earl of Clare, who coined the name Claremont.Clive never lived in his new house as he committed suicide in 1774, the year the new building was completed. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3655187.....
Social Friction: The British aristocracy looked down on Nabobs like Clive. They were seen as "corrupting" British society with foreign wealth and "un-English" excesses.
The Human Cost and Modern Backlash
The extraction policies overseen by Clive and his successors contributed directly to the Great Bengal Famine of 1770, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 10 million people (nearly one-third of the population). While Clive profited from soaring EIC stock prices, the region was reduced to ruin.
Today, politicians and critics like Shashi Tharoor and William Dalrymple argue that Clive’s statue in London is an "affront" to former colonies. Unlike elected leaders like Churchill, Clive was viewed as a "criminal" even in his own time. He faced a bruising Parliamentary inquiry into his corruption and eventually died by his own hand in 1774, buried in an unmarked grave.
https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/robert-clive
https://historyreclaimed.co.uk/clive-the-man-who-would-be-king
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1626959317631302/posts/3901714360155775/
