Carnac, John, 1716-1800

Person

Carnac, John, 1716-1800

1721-1800

John Carnac (1721–1800), army officer in the East India Company, was baptized in London in 1721, the son of French Huguenot immigrants. After graduating from Trinity College Dublin in 1740, he joined the marines as a Second Lieutenant, rising to Lieutenant in 1745 and travelling to India with the 39th Regiment of Foot in 1754. He entered the service of the East India Company's army as a Captain in 1758, and shortly afterwards became secretary and aide-de-camp to Robert Clive, the British Governor of Bengal, joining him in an expedition against the son of the Mughal of Hindustan in 1759. Carnac’s relationship with Clive was close both professionally and personally, and he was also close to Clive's wife; Carnac himself married Elizabeth Woollaston (d. 1767) in 1765 and Elizabeth Rivett (d. 1780) in 1769.

On Clive’s return to England in 1760, Carnac was given command of the Company's forces in Bengal, based at Fort William in Calcutta (Kolkata), with a seat on the Company's governing Council. In his relations with the nawabs of Bengal, Carnac was guided by the influence of Clive ('the person to whom I owe everything'), and he endeavoured to obtain confirmation of Clive's right to his jagir, or income, in Bengal. Carnac defeated the French-supported forces of the Mughal Shah Alam II in Bihar in 1761 and enjoyed more success in the fighting between the British and Mir Kasim (Mir Qasim) in 1763 and Shuja-ud-Daula of Oudh (Awadh) in 1764, although questions arose about his personal performance. He was dismissed from the Company's service in 1764, largely because of his opposition to Henry Vansittart, the new Governor of Bengal, who had engineered the accession of Mir Qasim as nawab there.

Carnac was reinstated and promoted very soon, however, now being made Colonel of the 1st Battalion with the rank of Brigadier-General. He defeated the Maratha Confederacy in 1765 before handing control back to Clive, who returned as Governor of Bengal in that year. Clive's second governorship established his reputation for statesmanship, and Carnac played a crucial role in every aspect of it. He joined Clive in negotiations with Shuja-ud-Daula and the Mughal Shah Alam II, resulting in both the grant of the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa (Odisha) to the Company and a diplomatic settlement that established peace; he was instrumental in reforming the activities of the Company's servants in Bengal; he was a member of the Council and also of the Select Committee, a small but powerful body that was at the heart of Clive's strategy; and in 1766 he helped Clive to deal successfully with a mutiny among army officers. These activities enabled Carnac to make a considerable financial profit from his service in India.

In 1767 Carnac resigned from the Company's service and returned to England, using his fortune to purchase an estate near Ringwood in Hampshire and to finance a largely unsuccessful housing development in Southampton. He was elected as MP for Leominster in 1768 and used his influence to defend Clive. He returned to Company service in India in 1773 because of his worsening financial situation, and was dismissed again in 1780 on account of his part in the humiliating convention of Wadgaon (Vadgaon). Carnac remained in India until his death at Mangalore (Mangaluru) in Karnataka in 1800, selling his English estate in 1783.

Bengal (India)

Brigadier-General in the East India Company

Prior, D. (2004, September 23). Carnac, John (1721–1800), army officer in the East India Company. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 9 Jan. 2025, from https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-4711.

lcnaf