Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. In the United States and the United Kingdom he is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined American and French force at the Siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America. He also served as a civil and military governor in Ireland and India; in both places he brought about significant changes, including the Act of Union in Ireland, and the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement in India.

Born into an aristocratic family and educated at Eton and Cambridge, Cornwallis joined the army in 1757, seeing action in the Seven Years' War. Upon his father's death in 1762 he became Earl Cornwallis and entered the House of Lords. From 1766 until 1805 he was Colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot. He next saw military action in 1776 in the American War of Independence. Active in the advance forces of many campaigns, in 1780 he inflicted an embarrassing defeat on the American army at the Battle of Camden, commanded British forces in the March 1781 Pyrrhic victory at Guildford Court House, and ultimately surrendered his army at Yorktown in October 1781 after an extended campaign through the Southern states which was marked by disagreements between him and his superior, General Sir Henry Clinton (which became public knowledge after the war).

Cornwallis (1787 ship)

Cornwallis was a snow that the Honourable East India Company had built in 1787 at Bombay Dockyard for the Bengal Pilot Service. A French privateer captured her in 1796.

Career

On 12 November 1792, Cornwallis left Calcutta for the Andaman Islands, together with the EICs vessels Juno, Union, and Seahorse, all under the command of Captain Archibald Blair, in Union. They were carrying some 360 settlers and supplies for six months to establish a settlement on North Andaman Island. A gale dispersed the vessels, but all arrived, with Cornwallis, the last to arrive on 14 December.Cornwallis was under the command of Captain C. Crawley, who on 27 December wrote a letter to Blair reporting on a mutinous attitude among the European members of his crew. At the end of December Crawley was relieved of duty and replaced by Lieutenant Wales, of the Bombay Marine, who was then in command of the Ranger. At the same time Cornwallis was removed from the Pilot Service and transferred to the Andaman Station.

Cornwallis (East Indiaman)

Some two to four vessels with the name Cornwallis, for Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, have an association with British East India Company (EIC). There exist records for two voyages, but there is some question as to which of three merchant vessels made which voyage.