Francis Rawdon - Hastings , 1st Marquess of Hastings Francis Edward Rawdon - Hastings , 1st Marquess of Hastings KG PC ( 9 December 1754 – 28 November 1826 ) , styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762 , as The Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783 , and known as The Earl of Moira between 1793 and 1816 , was an Irish - British politician and military officer who served as Governor - General of India from 1813 to 1823 . He took the additional surname ' Hastings ' in 1790 in compliance with the will of his maternal uncle , Francis Hastings , 10th Earl of Huntingdon . Background , education and early military career . Hastings was born at Moira , County Down , the son of John Rawdon , 1st Earl of Moira and Elizabeth Hastings , 13th Baroness Hastings . He grew up there and in Dublin , Ireland . He joined the British Army on 7 August 1771 as an ensign in the 15th Foot . ( The going rate for purchasing a commission for this rank was " ₤ " 200 . ) He was at Harrow School and matriculated at University College , Oxford , but dropped out . He became friends there with Banastre Tarleton . With his uncle Lord Huntington , he went on the Grand Tour . On 20 October 1773 , he was promoted to lieutenant in the 5th Foot . He returned to England , to join his regiment , and sailed for America on 7 May 1774 . In May 1789 he acted as the Duke of York ' s second in his duel with Lieut . - Colonel Lennox on Wimbledon Common . American War of Independence . Battle of Bunker Hill . Rawdon was posted at Boston as a Lieutenant in the 5th Regiment of Foot ' s Grenadier company , during the Battles of Lexington and Concord , but he saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill . Serving with the grenadier s , he participated in the second assault against Breed ' s Hill ( which failed ) , and the third assault against the redoubt . As his superior , Captain Harris , was wounded beside him , he took command of his company , for the successful assault . John Burgoyne noted in dispatches : " Lord Rawdon has this day stamped his fame for life . " He also was wounded during the assault . He was promoted Captain , and given a company in the 63rd Foot . There was a rumor that Lieutenant Lord Rawdon killed the American general Joseph Warren . Lord Rawdon is depicted in John Trumbull ' s famous painting " The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill " . Rawdon is in the far background holding the British ensign . Winter quarters 1774 – 1775 . During the Boston winter quarters , Rawdon made his stage debut , delivering a prologue for Aaron Hill ' s tragedy , " Zara " , which had been written by John Burgoyne . He was appointed Aide - de - camp to General Sir Henry Clinton , and sailed with him on the expedition to Brunswick Town , North Carolina , on the Cape Fear River , and then to the repulse at Fort Moultrie , Charleston , South Carolina . He returned with him to New York . On 4 August , he dined with General Clinton , Admiral Lord Howe , Lord Cornwallis , General Vaughan , and others . During the Battle of Long Island , he was at headquarters , with Clinton . Landing at Kip ' s Bay . On 15 September , he led his men at Kip ' s Bay , an amphibious landing on Manhattan island . The next day , he led his troops in support of the Light Infantry , that attacked Harlem Heights , until the Americans withdrew . White Plains . Again he participated at the landings at Pell ' s Point . The British pressed the Americans to White Plains , where on 1 November the Americans withdrew from their entrenchments . Rhode Island , England , and New York . On 8 December he landed with Clinton at Rhode Island securing the ports for the British Navy . On 13 January 1777 , with Clinton , he departed for London , arriving 1 March . During a ball at Lord George Germain ' s he met Lafayette , who was visiting London . Returning to America , in July , while Howe went to his Philadelphia campaign , Rawdon went with Clinton to the New York headquarters , where he participated in the battles of the New York Highlands , where on 7 October , Fort Constitution ( opposite West Point ) was captured . However , this was too late to link up with General Burgoyne at Albany . Rawdon was sent to Philadelphia with dispatches and returned to New York for the winter , where he raised a regiment , called the Volunteers of Ireland , recruited from deserters and Irish loyalists . Promoted colonel , in command of this regiment , Rawdon went with Clinton to Philadelphia . Starting out on 18 June 1778 , he went with Clinton during the withdrawal from Philadelphia to New York , and saw action at the Battle of Monmouth . He was appointed adjutant general . Rawdon was sent to learn news of the Battle of Rhode Island . At New York , on 3 September 1779 , he quarreled with Clinton , and resigned his position as adjutant general . He served with the Volunteers of Ireland during the raid on Staten Island by Lord Stirling on 15 January 1780 . Southern Campaign . He went south to the Siege of Charleston with reinforcements , then Lord Cornwallis posted him at Camden ( 16 August 1780 ) as the British sought to occupy South Carolina . Rawdon commanded the British left wing at the Battle of Camden . When Cornwallis went into Virginia , he left Rawdon in effective command in the South . Perhaps his most noted achievement was the victory in 1781 at the Battle of Hobkirk ' s Hill , where in command of only a small force , he defeated by superior military skill and determination , a much larger body of Americans . Thinking ( in error ) that Nathanael Greene had moved his artillery away , Rawdon attacked Greene ' s left wing , forcing the Americans to retire . However , Rawdon was forced to begin a gradual retreat to Charleston , relieving the Siege of Ninety - Six , but then evacuating it and withdrawing to Charleston . When the Loyalists he saved in the Siege of Ninety - Six were eventually relocated to Nova Scotia , they named their community of Rawdon after him . In July 1781 , in poor health , he gave up his command . He was captured at sea , by De Grasse , but was exchanged . He was awarded the freedom of the city of Dublin in recognition of his service in America . After Rawdon ' s departure the decision was made to evacuate Charleston as the war drew to a close . French Revolutionary Wars . Following the declaration of war , of France upon Great Britain , he was appointed major general , on 12 October 1793 . Sent by the Pitt ministry , Hastings launched an expedition into Ostend , France , in 1794 . He marched to join with the army of the Duke of York , at Alost . The French general Pichegru with superior numbers forced the British back toward their base at Antwerp . He left the expedition , feeling Pitt had broken promises . Political career . Rawdon - Hastings sat for Randalstown in the Irish House of Commons from 1781 until 1783 , when he was created Baron Rawdon , of Rawdon , in the County of York . In 1787 , he became friends with the Prince of Wales , and loaned him many thousands of pounds . In 1788 he became embroiled in the Regency Crisis . In 1789 , he took the surname Hastings in accordance with his uncle ' s will . He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Moira on 20 June 1793 , and served in the House of Lords for three decades . Plot to become Prime Minister . In 1797 it was rumoured briefly that he would replace Pitt as Prime Minister . There was some discontent with Pitt over his policies regarding the war with France . Additionally Pitt ' s long tenure in office had given him ample opportunity to annoy various political grandees , including but not limited to Lords Leeds , Thurlow and Lansdowne . In mid - May a combination of these various figures , coupled with a handful of Members of Parliament , proposed to make the Earl of Moira Prime Minister . Having fought in the American War and having led an expedition to Quiberon he commanded widespread respect . His closeness to the Prince of Wales also established him as a potential rival to Pitt , who was supported heavily by King George III . The prime motivation for the plot to become Prime Minister was to secure peace with France , the plotters having come to believe ( somewhat unfairly ) that Pitt was an obstacle to this objective . However the plot collapsed barely a month later in mid - June because of a lack of support from the political establishment . Additionally when Moira wrote to the King to propose the change of chief ministers his letter was simply ignored by the monarch . Thus the proposal came to nothing . Later politics . He was a long - standing advocate of Irish issues , in particular Catholic Emancipation , and at one point was described by the Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone as " The Irish Lafayette " . Becoming a Whig in politics , he entered government as part of the Ministry of All the Talents in 1806 as Master - General of the Ordnance and Constable of the Tower , but resigned upon the fall of the ministry the next year . Being a close associate of the Prince - Regent , Moira was asked by him to try to form a Whig government after the assassination of Spencer Perceval in 1812 ended that ministry . Both of Moira ' s attempts to create a governing coalition failed , and the Tories returned to power under the Earl of Liverpool . On 6 December 1816 , he was raised to the rank of Marquess of Hastings together with the subsidiary titles Viscount Loudoun and Earl of Rawdon . Fifteen years before Hastings County , Ontario , and three of its early townships were named after him . He also became the patron of Thomas Moore the poet , who had visited him at Donington Park , writing that " I thought it all exceedingly fine and grand , but most uncomfortable . " Moore was later disappointed when Moira , having been appointed Governor General of India , did not offer to take him with him to India on his staff , and the two men only met again once . Governor - General of India . Through the influence of the Prince - Regent , Moira was appointed Governor - General of India in 11 November 1812 . His tenure as Governor - General was a memorable one , overseeing the victory in the Gurkha War ( 1814 – 1816 ) ; the final conquest of the Marathas in 1818 ; and the purchase of the island of Singapore in 1819 . After delays clearing affairs , he reached Madras on 11 September 1813 . In October , he settled in at Calcutta . British India then consisted of Madras , Bengal , and Bombay . He commanded an army of 15 , 000 British regulars , a Bengal army of 27 regiments of native infantry , and eight regiments of cavalry ; a Madras army , led by General John Abercrombie of 24 regiments of native infantry , and eight regiments of native cavalry . Gurkha War . In May 1813 , the Gurkhas declared war . Hastings sent four divisions in separate attacks led by General Bennet Marley with 8 , 000 men against Katmandu , General John Sullivan Wood with 4 , 000 men against Butwal , General Sir David Ochterlony with 10 , 000 men against Amar Singh Thapa , and General Robert Rollo Gillespie , with 3 , 500 men against Nahan , Srinagar , and Garhwal . Only Ochterlony had some success ; Gillespie was killed . After inconclusive negotiations , Hastings reinforced Ochterlony to 20 , 000 men , who then won the battle of Makwanpur on 28 February . The Gurkhas then sued for peace , under the Sugauli Treaty . Third Anglo - Maratha War . After raids by Pindari s in January 1817 , Hastings led a force at Hindustan in the North ; in the South , the Army of the Deccan , under the command of General Sir Thomas Hislop . The Peshwa was defeated by William Fullarton Elphinstone on the Poona . Appa Sahib was defeated at the battle of Nagpur . Hislop defeated Holkar at the Battle of Mahidpur . Diplomacy . He was active diplomatically , protecting weaker Indian states . His domestic policy in India was also largely successful , seeing the repair of the Mughul canal system in Delhi in 1820 , as well as educational and administrative reforms . He confirmed the purchase of Singapore , from the Sultan of Jahore , by Sir Stamford Raffles , in January 1819 . He became increasingly estranged from the East India Company ' s Board of Control ( see Company rule in India ) . He was appointed Governor of Malta in 1824 . He died at sea off Naples two years later . Legacy . The HMS " Moira " was named in his honour , as was the Moira River in Ontario , Canada . He was F . R . S . ( Fellow of the Royal Society ? ) 1787 and F . S . A . ( Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries ? ) 1793 . For 1806 - 8 he was Grand Master of the Free Masons . The character of Rawdon Crawley in William Makepeace Thackeray ' s novel " Vanity Fair " is named after him . Family . On 12 July 1804 , he married Flora Campbell , 6th Countess of Loudoun , daughter of Major - General James Mure - Campbell , 5th Earl of Loudoun and Lady Flora Macleod . They had six children : The marquess also allegedly fathered an illegitimate son George Hunn Nobbs by Jemima Ffrench , although this is likely to be a falsification of Nobbs ' . Death . He died aboard HMS " Revenge " and following his directions his right hand was cut off and buried with his wife when she died ; this wish was complied with , and it now rests clasped with hers in the family vault at Loudoun Kirk . Donington Park . Inheriting Donington Hall from his uncle , he rebuilt it in Gothic style ; Wilkins was the architect . He placed the park at the disposal of the Bourbon Princes upon their exile in England following the French Revolution and is said to have left a signed cheque - book in each bedroom for the occupant to use at their pleasure .