First British-Mysore War 1768
Lieutenant Richard Rose, Honourable East India Company
St. Helen's, Abingdon, Oxfordshire
It is difficult to decide whether or not East India Company Army soldiers should be included in these narratives. Were they fighting for their country or for their employers? Everything was done for the profits of the Company’s shareholders, and yet there are enough references to the British, as opposed to the French, Dutch or Portuguese, to make one believe that patriotism and profit were probably conflated. So let us give Richard Rose, late of Abingdon in Oxfordshire, an officer of the Honourable East India Company, the benefit of the doubt, and regard him as another victim of Britain’s forgotten wars.
The story is, however, not an honourable one. It is a tale embroiled in deception and double-dealing, involving principally three Indian states: the Carnatic, surrounding the British territory of Fort St. George, now Madras or Chennai; Hyderabad to its north; and Mysore to the west. It is probably worth ignoring the fact that Hyderabad was nominally under the rule of the Maharatha Emperor, and instead regard it as an independent state. Lack of faith and lack of trust ruled.
Rather than go into the details of various attacks on, and sieges of, places that now cannot even be located, it is worth summarising the years between January 1767 and March 1769. Initially the conflict started with Hyderabad invading Mysore. Then four months later, in May 1767, the two antagonists negotiated an alliance, and launched attacks on towns in the Carnatic. In January 1768 Hyderabad renounced the alliance, allowing the British forces fighting for the Carnatic to occupy parts of Mysore. To and fro fighting then continued until March 1769, by which time Hyder Ali of Mysore’s forces had advanced as far as the gates of Fort St. George. A treaty between the British and Mysore was agreed and the fighting ended.
Why were the British involved? Initially the main East India Company aim was to get access to Hyderabad’s coastline, an area known as the Northern Circars. In exchange for that access the Company provided troops to the Nizam of Hyderabad. So when he attacked Mysore in 1767 the Nizam was using Company troops. Things got complicated when the Hyderabad-Mysore alliance was concluded, and the attacks on Carnatic towns and fortresses began, as many of those fortresses were manned by East India Company soldiers. So EIC troops were defending Carnatic strongholds against attacks from an enemy that the Company had earlier that year provided soldiers for. The British presence in the Carnatic forts was not insignificant; when Hyder Ali besieged Ambur for two months in November and December of 1767 the besieged fortress was under British command.
To gain a clearer idea of how confusing it could be it is worth looking at Richard Rose. The Roses were an established Abingdon family who had chosen the wrong side in the British Civil War, leading one Thomas Rose to emigrate to Charlestown, South Carolina. His family remained there apart from one son, Richard, who was adopted as heir to an uncle back in Abingdon and so returned to England in 1714. This Richard eventually became Mayor of Abingdon nine times, but although clearly successful he did not dissuade his eldest surviving son, another Richard, form pursuing a life of adventure and risk.
This Richard, born in 1740, led an interesting life. In his teens he made three voyages to India and China. In 1759 he was a naval midshipman, on HMS Aurora as it blockaded Dunkirk as part of The Seven Years War. The following year he was aboard HMS America when it blockaded the French port of Pondicherry in India, and distinguished himself by commanding a boat that cut adrift two French frigates. A bright naval career must have beckoned.
However, over the following four years he was shipwrecked three times. That may have prompted him to enlist in the East India Company’s European Regiment, to which he was appointed Ensign in 1764. He carried the regimental colours at the (unsuccessful) siege of Madurai (the town was being attacked because its commander, a former EIC officer called Yusuf Khan, had set himself up as an independent ruler), and the following year promoted to Lieutenant.
In February 1767 Rose commanded a storming party at Fort Panjalum (which I cannot locate), where he was shot through the wrist and invalided for six months. By September he was back fighting in a battle against Mysore. In February and March 1768 he was with the EIC army as it recaptured several Carnatic fortresses from Hyder Ali’s troops, and then in April he took part in Colonel Wood’s attack on the fort at Attur. It was here that he was wounded again, only this time he did not recover. Attur was taken, but Rose died of his wounds, at Tritchinopoly, two months later. Later that year Hyder Ali retook the fort, so Rose's death was worth it.
That is not quite the end of Richard Rose’s story. In June 1766, at Fort St. David in Cuddalore, one hundred miles south of Madras, he had married Agnes Cleland, the daughter of John Cleland of Whithorn (on the Scottish coast of the Solway Firth) and Margaret Murdoch. Richard and Agnes had a son, James Dowsett Rose, who was born in March 1767, so it is gratifying to know that while recuperating from his wounded wrist Richard did at least probably see his son.
James had an uncle, also called James, who owned an estate east of Belfast, near Bangor, called the Rath Gael estate, and when the elder James died in 1777, the younger James inherited. His name was changed to James Dowsett Rose-Cleland, and he went on to become a prominent County Down figure. He inherited his grandfather’s Berkshire property in 1784, he commanded the Newtownards Yeomanry at the Battle of Saintfield in Co. Down in 1798 (probably not with distinction – the fight is normally regarded as a victory for the Irish rebels), and in 1805 he was made the county’s High Sheriff, and served many years as the Deputy Lord-Lieutenant, and he was an esteemed conchologist. The estate has gone, but the name lives on as a district of Bangor.
I began this tale wondering whether East India Company Officers really died fighting for their country. I still do not know the answer, but I think it is fair to regard Richard Rose as a genuine Briton – an Englishman married to a Scotswoman, whose son became a prominent Ulsterman. Only the Welsh to find.
TO THE MEMORY OF MR. RICHARD ROSE LATE AN OFFICER IN THE SERVICE OF THE HONBLE EAST INDIA COMPANY WHO DIED JUNE 7TH 1768 AGED 28 OF WOUNDS RECEIVED AT THE SIEGE OF ATTOOR A FORTRESS IN INDIA APRIL 5th THE SAME YEAR. THIS MONUMENT TO HIS SON'S MERIT AND HIS OWN LOSS WAS ERECTED BY HIS AFFLICTED FATHER. BLESSED BY A MOST SWEET DISPOSITION HE WAS A DUTIFUL SON AND A TENDER PARENT, THE EXCRUCIATING TORTURES OCCASIONED BY A DESPERATE WOUND AND THE LINGERING AND PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES DURING THE SPACE OF 3 MONTHS BY WHICH IT GRADUALLY BROUGHT ON HIS DISSOLUTION HE SUSTAINED WITH THE MOST PERFECT PATIENCE AND EXEMPLARY RESIGNATION TO THE DIVINE WILL
The story is, however, not an honourable one. It is a tale embroiled in deception and double-dealing, involving principally three Indian states: the Carnatic, surrounding the British territory of Fort St. George, now Madras or Chennai; Hyderabad to its north; and Mysore to the west. It is probably worth ignoring the fact that Hyderabad was nominally under the rule of the Maharatha Emperor, and instead regard it as an independent state. Lack of faith and lack of trust ruled.
Rather than go into the details of various attacks on, and sieges of, places that now cannot even be located, it is worth summarising the years between January 1767 and March 1769. Initially the conflict started with Hyderabad invading Mysore. Then four months later, in May 1767, the two antagonists negotiated an alliance, and launched attacks on towns in the Carnatic. In January 1768 Hyderabad renounced the alliance, allowing the British forces fighting for the Carnatic to occupy parts of Mysore. To and fro fighting then continued until March 1769, by which time Hyder Ali of Mysore’s forces had advanced as far as the gates of Fort St. George. A treaty between the British and Mysore was agreed and the fighting ended.
Why were the British involved? Initially the main East India Company aim was to get access to Hyderabad’s coastline, an area known as the Northern Circars. In exchange for that access the Company provided troops to the Nizam of Hyderabad. So when he attacked Mysore in 1767 the Nizam was using Company troops. Things got complicated when the Hyderabad-Mysore alliance was concluded, and the attacks on Carnatic towns and fortresses began, as many of those fortresses were manned by East India Company soldiers. So EIC troops were defending Carnatic strongholds against attacks from an enemy that the Company had earlier that year provided soldiers for. The British presence in the Carnatic forts was not insignificant; when Hyder Ali besieged Ambur for two months in November and December of 1767 the besieged fortress was under British command.
To gain a clearer idea of how confusing it could be it is worth looking at Richard Rose. The Roses were an established Abingdon family who had chosen the wrong side in the British Civil War, leading one Thomas Rose to emigrate to Charlestown, South Carolina. His family remained there apart from one son, Richard, who was adopted as heir to an uncle back in Abingdon and so returned to England in 1714. This Richard eventually became Mayor of Abingdon nine times, but although clearly successful he did not dissuade his eldest surviving son, another Richard, form pursuing a life of adventure and risk.
This Richard, born in 1740, led an interesting life. In his teens he made three voyages to India and China. In 1759 he was a naval midshipman, on HMS Aurora as it blockaded Dunkirk as part of The Seven Years War. The following year he was aboard HMS America when it blockaded the French port of Pondicherry in India, and distinguished himself by commanding a boat that cut adrift two French frigates. A bright naval career must have beckoned.
However, over the following four years he was shipwrecked three times. That may have prompted him to enlist in the East India Company’s European Regiment, to which he was appointed Ensign in 1764. He carried the regimental colours at the (unsuccessful) siege of Madurai (the town was being attacked because its commander, a former EIC officer called Yusuf Khan, had set himself up as an independent ruler), and the following year promoted to Lieutenant.
In February 1767 Rose commanded a storming party at Fort Panjalum (which I cannot locate), where he was shot through the wrist and invalided for six months. By September he was back fighting in a battle against Mysore. In February and March 1768 he was with the EIC army as it recaptured several Carnatic fortresses from Hyder Ali’s troops, and then in April he took part in Colonel Wood’s attack on the fort at Attur. It was here that he was wounded again, only this time he did not recover. Attur was taken, but Rose died of his wounds, at Tritchinopoly, two months later. Later that year Hyder Ali retook the fort, so Rose's death was worth it.
That is not quite the end of Richard Rose’s story. In June 1766, at Fort St. David in Cuddalore, one hundred miles south of Madras, he had married Agnes Cleland, the daughter of John Cleland of Whithorn (on the Scottish coast of the Solway Firth) and Margaret Murdoch. Richard and Agnes had a son, James Dowsett Rose, who was born in March 1767, so it is gratifying to know that while recuperating from his wounded wrist Richard did at least probably see his son.
James had an uncle, also called James, who owned an estate east of Belfast, near Bangor, called the Rath Gael estate, and when the elder James died in 1777, the younger James inherited. His name was changed to James Dowsett Rose-Cleland, and he went on to become a prominent County Down figure. He inherited his grandfather’s Berkshire property in 1784, he commanded the Newtownards Yeomanry at the Battle of Saintfield in Co. Down in 1798 (probably not with distinction – the fight is normally regarded as a victory for the Irish rebels), and in 1805 he was made the county’s High Sheriff, and served many years as the Deputy Lord-Lieutenant, and he was an esteemed conchologist. The estate has gone, but the name lives on as a district of Bangor.
I began this tale wondering whether East India Company Officers really died fighting for their country. I still do not know the answer, but I think it is fair to regard Richard Rose as a genuine Briton – an Englishman married to a Scotswoman, whose son became a prominent Ulsterman. Only the Welsh to find.
TO THE MEMORY OF MR. RICHARD ROSE LATE AN OFFICER IN THE SERVICE OF THE HONBLE EAST INDIA COMPANY WHO DIED JUNE 7TH 1768 AGED 28 OF WOUNDS RECEIVED AT THE SIEGE OF ATTOOR A FORTRESS IN INDIA APRIL 5th THE SAME YEAR. THIS MONUMENT TO HIS SON'S MERIT AND HIS OWN LOSS WAS ERECTED BY HIS AFFLICTED FATHER. BLESSED BY A MOST SWEET DISPOSITION HE WAS A DUTIFUL SON AND A TENDER PARENT, THE EXCRUCIATING TORTURES OCCASIONED BY A DESPERATE WOUND AND THE LINGERING AND PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES DURING THE SPACE OF 3 MONTHS BY WHICH IT GRADUALLY BROUGHT ON HIS DISSOLUTION HE SUSTAINED WITH THE MOST PERFECT PATIENCE AND EXEMPLARY RESIGNATION TO THE DIVINE WILL
Sources
Picture
A Long Shot of Fort of Attur - by Thamizhpparithi Mairi, CC By-SA 3.0
Military
www.wikipedia.com
glosters.tripod.com - a site listing memorials to a host of British military deaths
A Genealogical and heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank, But Uninvested with Heraldic Honours, Vol. 4 - (John Burke, H. Colburn, London, 1838)
www.gktoday.in
Genealogy
The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Vol 3 - (Bernard Burke, Heritage Books, 2009 - first published 1842)
www.lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com - entry by Timothy Belmont, April 2016
www.clan-cleland.org
James Dowsett Rose-Clealand (Cleland): A Forgotten Irish Naturalist - (R. MacDonald and N. McMillan, The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 13, No. 3, July 1959)
© Jonathan Dewhirst 2019
Picture
A Long Shot of Fort of Attur - by Thamizhpparithi Mairi, CC By-SA 3.0
Military
www.wikipedia.com
glosters.tripod.com - a site listing memorials to a host of British military deaths
A Genealogical and heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank, But Uninvested with Heraldic Honours, Vol. 4 - (John Burke, H. Colburn, London, 1838)
www.gktoday.in
Genealogy
The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Vol 3 - (Bernard Burke, Heritage Books, 2009 - first published 1842)
www.lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com - entry by Timothy Belmont, April 2016
www.clan-cleland.org
James Dowsett Rose-Clealand (Cleland): A Forgotten Irish Naturalist - (R. MacDonald and N. McMillan, The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 13, No. 3, July 1959)
© Jonathan Dewhirst 2019
