Warren Hastings (1773-1785)

Warren Hastings was a British colonial administrator who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and thus the first de facto Governor-General of Bengal from 1772 to 1818. He and Robert Clive are credited with establishing the British Empire in India. He was a tireless organizer and reformer. He was accused of corruption and impeached in 1787, but was acquitted after a lengthy trial in 1795. In 1814, he was appointed to the Privy Councillor.

Background

• Warren Hastings was born on December 6, 1732, and attended Westminster School.
• In 1750, he joined the British East India Company as a clerk, and in 1752, he was promoted and sent to Kasimbazar, Bengal, which was the company’s major trading post.
• Siraj-ud-Daulah imprisoned Warren Hasting and others at Kasimbazar because he was anti-European. Soon after, he fled to the island of Fulda, where he joined the Calcutta refugees.
• He later volunteered for Robert Clive’s force.
• In 1758, he became a British resident in Murshidabad and was assigned certain jobs on behalf of Robert Clive.
• Warren Hastings (1732–1818) was the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal) in 1772 and the first Governor-General of Bengal in 1774, serving until his resignation in 1785.
• The First Anglo-Maratha war and the Second Anglo-Mysore war were fought during his reign.
• During his presidency, the Regulating Act of 1773 was passed.
• In 1785, he helped Sir William Jones establish the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

Important Positions Held

1. First Governor of the Presidency of Fort Williams. 
2. Head of the Supreme Council of Bengal. 
3. Privy Councillor 
4. First Governor-General of Bengal 

Entry into India

In the year 1758, Warren was accepted as a British Resident in the city of Murshidabad. He was assigned the role of a representative in Bengal. But the East India Company was dominating Bengal at that time. So they were given the responsibility of dispensing rules to the new Nawab. He issued orders on behalf of Robert Clive. 

• Hastings personally comforted Mir Jafar and he was trying to make a connection with the local people of India and their rulers. 
• In 1760 when the troops of East India Company removed Mir Jafar from power and replaced him with Mir Qasim, Hastings built a good connection with the new Nawab. In 1761 he again got elected to the Calcutta(Present Kolkata)council. 
• In the year 1764, Hastings suspected a few people who were moving under the unofficial security of the British flag that they were involved in widespread fraud and illegal trading. Hastings put this matter before the authorities in Calcutta. But the Council considered his report and ultimately rejected Hastings’ proposals. He was fiercely criticized by other members, many of whom had themselves profited from the trade. 
• Hastings resigned in December 1764 and Once he landed in London, Hastings remained in fashionable locations. However, he was having huge debts on his shoulders. So to clear his debts, he applied for a job at the East India Company. And after his first rejection, he ultimately got the post of deputy leader at the city of Madras.