Charles Cornwallis

**Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis** (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading British general officers in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined Franco-American force at the siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America. Cornwallis later served as a civil and military governor in Ireland, where he helped bring about the Act of Union; and in India, where he helped enact the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement.

Born into an aristocratic family and educated at Eton and Cambridge, Cornwallis joined the British army in 1757, seeing action in the Seven Years' War. Upon his father's death in 1762 he succeeded to his peerage and entered the House of Lords. From 1766 until 1805, he was colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot. Cornwallis next saw military action in 1776 in the American War of Independence. Active in the advance forces of many campaigns, in 1780 he inflicted a major defeat on the Continental Army at the Battle of Camden. He also commanded British forces in the March 1781 Pyrrhic victory at Guilford Court House. Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown in October 1781 after an extended campaign through the Southern colonies, marked by disagreements between him and his superior, Sir Henry Clinton.

Despite this defeat, Cornwallis retained the confidence of successive British governments and continued to enjoy an active career. Knighted in 1786, he was in that year appointed to be Governor-General and commander-in-chief in India. There he enacted numerous significant reforms within the East India Company and its territories, including the Cornwallis Code, part of which implemented important land taxation reforms known as the Permanent Settlement. From 1789 to 1792 he led British and Company forces in the Third Anglo-Mysore War to defeat the Mysorean ruler Tipu Sultan.

Returning to Britain in 1794, Cornwallis was given the post of Master-General of the Ordnance. In 1798 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-chief of Ireland, where he oversaw the response to the 1798 Irish Rebellion, including a French invasion of Ireland, and was instrumental in bringing about the Union of Great Britain and Ireland. Following his Irish service, Cornwallis was the chief British signatory to the 1802 Treaty of Amiens and was reappointed to India in 1805. He died in India not long after his arrival because of a fever.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Most Honourable
- **name**: The Marquess Cornwallis
- **honorific-suffix**: Order of the Garter, KG His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC
- **image**: File:Lord Cornwallis.jpg
- **alt**: The Marquess Cornwallis
- **caption**: _Portrait of Lord Cornwallis_ by Thomas Gainsborough, 1783
- **office**: Governor-General of India, Governor-General
of the Presidency of Fort William
- **term start2**: 12 September 1786
- **term end2**: 28 October 1793
- **monarch2**: George III
- **primeminister2**: William Pitt the Younger
- **predecessor2**: Sir John Macpherson, 1st Baronet, Sir John Macpherson, Bt
<small>As Acting Governor-General</small>
- **successor2**: John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth, Sir John Shore
- **predecessor1**: Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, The Marquess Wellesley
- **successor1**: Sir George Barlow, 1st Baronet, Sir George Barlow, Bt
<small>As Acting Governor-General</small>
- **monarch1**: George III
- **primeminister1**: William Pitt the Younger
- **term start1**: 30 July 1805
- **term end1**: 5 October 1805
- **order3**: Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
- **term start3**: 14 June 1798
- **term end3**: 27 April 1801
- **monarch3**: George III
- **primeminister3**: William Pitt the Younger
- **predecessor3**: John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden, The Earl Camden
- **successor3**: Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, The Earl Hardwicke
- **office4**: Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament
for Eye (UK Parliament constituency), Eye
- **term start4**: 1760
- **term end4**: 1762
- **predecessor4**: Henry Townshend (died 1762), Henry Townshend
- **successor4**: Richard Burton Phillipson, Richard Burton
- **birth place**: Mayfair, London, England
- **death place**: Ghazipur, Gauspur, Benares State, Kingdom of Kashi-Benares (present-day in Uttar Pradesh, India)
- **birthname**: Charles Edward Cornwallis V
- **party**: Whigs (British political party), Whig
- **children**: 2, incl. Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis, Charles
- **occupation**: Officer (armed forces), Military officer, official
- **signature**: Cornwallis Signature.svg
- **signature alt**: Signature of the Marquess Cornwallis
- **allegiance**:
(1757–1801)
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom
(1801–1805)
- **branch**: British Army
East India Company, British East India Company
- **serviceyears**: 1757–1805
- **rank**: General
- **commands**: Commander-in-Chief, India, India
Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, Ireland
Eastern Command (United Kingdom), South-East England
- **battles**: * Seven Years' War
* American Revolutionary War, American War of Independence
* Third Anglo-Mysore War
* Irish Rebellion of 1798
* British anti-invasion preparations of 1803–05, Anti-invasion preparations
- **awards**: Knight#Chivalric orders, Knight Companion of Order of the Garter, The Most Noble Order of the Garter