Indian correspondence of Brig.-General John Carnac

Catalogue record

Notes

John Carnac joined the army of the East India Company with the rank of Captain in 1758, after seeing service with the 39th infantry regiment. Between 1760 and 1761, as Commander-in-Chief, he fought and ultimately defeated the French supported forces of the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II, near Bihar. Made Brigadier-General in 1764, Carnac again assumed the command of the EIC's army, defeating the Marathas in 1765 before handing control back later that year to Robert Clive.
From 1776-1779 he was Member of Council, Bombay and a member of the Superintending Committee on the expedition against Poona in 1778. He was dismissed from the East India Company for his share in the Treaty of Wadgaon in 1779, under the terms of which the EIC relinquished control over all lands gained during the four previous years. Despite this Carnac remained in India until his death at Mangalore in November 1800.
The present collection, now held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, focuses on the correspondence during the earlier period of Carnac's life in India, from 1760 to 1767. This was a period of major political change, with a succession of four different nawabs in Bengal and a change of Mughal Emperor in Delhi.
The collection comprises some 2,000 items of correspondence, including a small number of letters in Persian. Its emphasis on the years between 1763 and 1766 complements The papers of Clive of India, also from the National Library of Wales and published in the Records of the Raj series. It therefore helps to fill the gap on events in those papers during Clive's absence from India between March 1760 and April 1765, when he returned to Britain. At the same time, the collection serves to amplify our understanding of Clive's third and final tour of duty, by providing the opportunity to contrast how two senior British figures set about implementing the East India Company's new approach, combining commercial with growing political power.

Also available as an online resource (released spring 2009): The Indian papers of Clive & Carnac.