Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote, KB ( – 28 April 1783) was an Anglo-Irish army officer and politician who represented Leicester and Poole in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1768 to 1780. He is best known for his many years of service with the Bengal Army in India, where his victory at the Battle of Wandiwash was considered a turning point in the struggle for control over the region between Britain and France. Coote was known by his sepoy troops as Coote Bahadur (Coote the Brave).

Early life

A member of the Coote family headed by the Earl of Mountrath, he was born in Kilmallock, near Limerick, Ireland, the son of the Reverend Chidley Coote and Jane Evans, daughter of George Evans, and sister of George Evans, 1st Baron Carbery. He entered the 27th Regiment of Foot. He first saw active service in the Jacobite rising of 1745, and later obtained a captaincy in the 39th Regiment, the first regular British regiment to serve in India.

Career in India

thumb|upright|Memorial at Westminster Abbey by [[Thomas Banks (sculptor)|Thomas Banks]]

Recapture of Calcutta

In 1756 a part of the regiment, then quartered at Madras, was sent forward to join Robert Clive in his operations against Calcutta

Plassey

Coote was soon given the local rank of major for his good conduct in surprising the camp of the Nawab of Bengal. Soon afterwards came the Battle of Plassey, which would probably never have taken place but for Coote's advice at the council of war; after the defeat of the Nawab he led a detachment in pursuit of the French for 400 miles under extraordinary difficulties. His conduct won him the rank of lieutenant colonel and the command of the 84th Regiment of Foot, newly raised in Britain for Indian service, but his exertions had seriously damaged his health.

Return to India

In 1779 he sailed on to India to assume the role of commander in chief of the company forces in India. He allied himself to Warren Hastings, the Governor-General who generally deferred to him and gave him a free hand over military matters, in opposition to Hasting's opponents on the ruling Council Edward Wheler and Philip Francis. He spent much of his time visiting outlying garrisons and chose to attend meetings of the Calcutta Council only when it was necessary to pass some important measure. Without Coote's support, Hastings was likely to be outvoted on the council. This situation only ended when Francis returned home where he began to stir up criticism of Hastings' conduct which ultimately led to his failed impeachment.

Second Anglo-Mysore War

Following Hyder Ali's opening of the Second Anglo-Mysore War in southern India, Coote returned to active service. It was not until 1 June 1781 that Coote struck the first heavy blow against Hyder in the decisive Battle of Porto Novo. The battle was won by Coote against odds of five to one. It was followed up by another hard-fought battle at Pollilur (the scene of an earlier triumph of Hyder over a British force) on 27 August, in which the British won another success, and by the rout of the Mysore troops at Sholinghur a month later. His last service was the arduous campaign of 1782, which finally shattered a constitution already gravely impaired by hardship and exertions. Although he often quarrelled with other British officers and officials, Coote was adored by the sepoy troops under his command. In his autobiography the American General and Secretary of State Colin Powell claims direct descent from Coote's identically named nephew Eyre Coote while the latter was serving as Governor of Jamaica, which has led to Powell sometimes being incorrectly referred to as a direct descendant of the elder General Coote.

Bibliography

  • Harvey, Robert. Clive: The life and Death of a British Emperor. Hodder and Stoughton, 1998.
  • Sheppard E. W. Coote Bahadur: A Life of Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote, KB Werner Laurie 1956
  • Turnbull, Patrick. Warren Hastings. New English Library, 1975.

References

  • Eyre Coote papers, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan.
  • COOTE, Eyre (1726–1783), of West Park, nr. Rockbourn, Hants. at The History of Parliament Online