Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquis, and 4th Baron Moira

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Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquis, and 4th Baron Moira (1754–1826). Hastings was born in Ireland and educated at Harrow and Oxford. In 1771 he joined the army and served in the American War of Independence 1776–81. Thereafter he held appointments mainly at home until he was made governor-general of India in 1813. His period in office was marked by major military conquests, which consolidated British power. In 1814–16 he successfully prosecuted the Gurkha and Pindari wars. In 1818, he inflicted a final defeat on the peshwa of Poona to dismantle the Maratha empire, which once had been the East India Company's principal rival for supremacy in India. His last years, however, were marred by financial scandals in Hyderabad involving Palmer & Company. He retired from India in 1823 and was appointed governor of Malta 1824–6.

David Anthony Washbrook

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Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquis, and 4th Baron Moira

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