Born on the 29th September 1725 in the small village of Moreton Say near Market Drayton in Shropshire it would be difficult for those who knew him as a young man to believe that here was to be one of the truly great Englishmen of all time.
Robert's father Richard was a lawyer of limited finance and large family. Eventually he would provide Robert with five brothers and seven sisters. This ever increasing family, and the fact that even from the earliest age Robert could not get along with his father, meant that at three he was sent to an aunt and uncle in Manchester to be looked after.
He returned to the family home of Styche after four years in which he was allowed to run wild and the relationship with his father went from bad to worse. Robert's tantrums and rage became almost legendary as did his exploits while at school. The episode on Market Drayton church being only one of a number of scrapes he got into which resulted in him being expelled from three local schools.
He had been nothing but trouble to his poor father and eventually through exasperation his father arranged a job for Robert as a junior writer (clerk) with the East India Company. At the age of seventeen Robert set sail for India.
The voyage to India was a long and arduous one lasting 14 months. In those days the route was via Brazil to pick up the Trade Winds to carry the ship round South Africa and on to India. However Clive's ship ran aground off the coast of Brazil and was delayed for some time while repairs were carried out. During the storm that had caused the grounding Clive was washed overboard and almost drowned. Again he felt that perhaps he was meant for something special.
As he stepped ashore at Madras on 1 June 1744 India was nothing more than a series of small outpost in a fledgling British Empire. The French and Portuguese were already there and while a few visionaries could see the massive potential that India offered it would be this humble clerk who would transform both India and Britain.
Go To Page: 1 2
