Item VI/v/05 - Debates of the House of Lords . . .in the Trial of Warren Hastings

HASTINGS, WARREN, second son of Rev. Penyston Hastings, Vicar of Bledington, Gloucs., and Hester, dau. of Thomas Warren, Stubhill, near Twining, Gloucs.; b. 6 Dec 1732; adm. May 1743 (Gibson's); KS (Capt.) 1747; left 1749; Writer, EICS Bengal 1749; landed at Calcutta 8 Oct 1750; Resident, Murshidabad 1757-60; member of council, Calcutta 1761-4; returned to England 1764; gave evidence on India to a committee of the House of Commons 1766; Second on Council, Madras 1769-72; Governor of Bengal 13 Apr 1772 – Oct 1774, Governor-Gen. of Bengal 20 Oct 1774 – Feb 1785; reorganised financial and judicial system in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa; assisted Nawab of Oudh against the Rohillas; took measures against dacoits; named as first Governor-General of Bengal in Act of 1773; opposed by majority on new Council; charged with corruption by Nuncomar, who was subsequently arrested on a charge of forgery in a private suit instigated by an Indian, and hanged; took measures to improve the EI Company’s finances; supported by Supreme Court, Calcutta, which ignored the acceptance by the Company’s directors of his provisional resignation; fought a duel with Sir Philip Francis, who had persistently opposed him in Council, 17 Aug 1780; drove Haidar Ali out of the Carnatic; deposed Chait Singh, Zemindar of Benares, and seized his treasure 1781; suspected of conniving at the imprisonment of the Begums of Oudh and the seizure of their property; concluded treaty with Tippoo Sultan in 1783 which laid foundation for British supremacy in India; founded Asiatic Society of Bengal and the Calcutta Madrisa; left India Feb 1785; returned to England 13 Jun 1785; his impeachment on ground of corruption and cruelty in his administration of Bengal voted by a large majority in the House of Commons 3 Apr 1787; his trial in Westminster Hall occupied 145 days between 13 Feb 1788 and 23 Apr 1795, but resulted in an acquittal; retired to estate at Daylesford, Worcs., purchased by him in 1788; Privy Councillor 6 May 1814; FRS 25 Jun 1801; DCL Oxford 30 Jun 1813; one of donors of Warren Hastings Cup; m. 1st, 1757 Mary, widow of Capt. John Buchanan, Craigieven; m. 2nd, 8 Aug 1777 Anna Maria Apollonia, mother of Sir Charles Imhoff (qv), widow of Baron Christopher Adam Carl von Imhoff, and dau. of Baron von Chapuset; d. 22 Aug 1818. DNB. Monument in North Transept, Westminster Abbey.