Warren Hastings

Warren Hastings (December 7 1732 - August 22 1818) was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was born at Churchill, Oxfordshire. He attended Westminster School before joining the British East India Company in 1750 as a clerk. In 1757 he was made the British Resident (administrative in charge) of Murshidabad. He was appointed to the Calcutta council in 1761, but was back in England in 1764. He returned to India in 1769 as a part of the Madras council and was made governor of Bengal in 1772. In 1773, he was appointed the first Governor-General of India.

Warren Hastings

For ten years Hastings managed to help expand British control across India that had been stated by Robert Clive. Some of his fellow Britons blamed him for not getting victory in the Second Anglo-Mysore War.

Hastings resigned in 1784 and returned to England, however when he arrived in England he was charged with corruption by Edmund Burke. Burke was encouraged by Sir Philip Francis who had been wounded by Hastings in a duel in India. The Impeachment trial took seven years and Hastings was acquitted.

On August 22 1806, the Edinburgh East India Club held a party to honour Hastings, asking for "Prosperity to our settlements in India".

Places named after him

The city of Hastings, New Zealand and the Melbourne outer suburb of Hastings, Victoria, Australia were both named after him.

Hastings is a Senior Wing House at St Paul's School, Darjeeling, India, where all the senior wing houses are named after colonial-age military figures.