Chronology of Lord Francis Rawdon,
 Marquess of Hastings
(1754-1826)

© 2000 Glenn F. Cartwright

Sir Francis Rawdon

Year
1754		 Age Born December 9th. Francis Rawdon-Hastings of Moira, Northern Ireland.  [Son of 1st Earl of Moira John Rawdon (1720-1793) who about 1750 married Lady Elizabeth Hastings (1731-1808)] 
1768
14
 Attended Harrow 
1770
16
 Attended University College, Oxford 
1771
17
 Joined the army in 1771 as ensign in the 15th foot.
1775
21
 Appointed by William Howe as an officer of higher rank to serve as Deputy-Adjutant. 
1775-
1781		 . Fought in the War of American Independence.
1775 Distinguished himself at Bunker's Hill
1776 Fought in Battles of Brooklyn and White Hall 
1778 Adjutant-general to forces in America;  Lord Rawdon advances into Brattleboro and captures it as Washington         retreats.
1780 Commanded left wing at Camden
1781 Hobkirk's Hill
(178? Captured by French. Escaped imprisonment at Ticonderoga, ended up on St. Helen's Island (Montreal).  Sent home. )
1781 Invalided and returned to England.  En route, his ship was captured by the French and diverted to Brest. He was quickly released.
1783
29
 Created an English peer, Baron Rawdon of Rawdon, by King Geroge III. (March, 1783)
178935Adds surname of Hastings to his own name, after his mother succeeds to the barony of Hastings.
1790
36
 Built a house, Donington Hall, in the town of Castle Donington, in Leicestershire.  (The Hall still exists as headquarters of British Midlands Airlines but the Castle after which the town was named is long gone.)
1804
50
 Married Flora Muir Campbell (1780-January 8, 1840), Countess of Loudoun, 26 years his junior. 
. . Their Children:
1806 Eldest Daughter Flora Elizabeth Rawdon Hastings.  (Died 1839)
1807 Son Francis George Augustus (died in infancy)
1808 Son George Augustus Francis Rawdon-Hastings. (Later 2nd Marquess of Hastings; 7th Earl of Loudoun. Died 1844)
1809 Daughter Sophia Frederica Christina (Married John 2nd Marquis of Bute. Died 1859) 
1810 Daughter Selina Constantia (Married Charles Henry, a captain in 56th regiment.  Died 1867)
1812 Daughter Adelaide Augusta Lavinia (Married Sir William Keith Murray. Died 1860) 
1813
59
 Governor-general of India (Viceroy of Bengal) in 1813. He came to India as a consolation for his failure to attain the premiership under his friend George Frederick, the prince regent. He belonged to the circle of the Prince of Wales (later George IV), through whose influence he was appointed Governor-general of Bengal and commander in chief of the forces in India. He landed at Calcutta and assumed office in October 1813.
1814
60
 Began the so-called "Gurkha war" against Nepal. 
1816
62
 End of "Gurkha war" against Nepal, ends with high losses. Treaty of Kathmandu (1816) gave the British the tract of hill country where Simla (Shimla), the site of the future summer capital of British. They abandoned disputed districts, ceded some territory to the British, and agreed to receive a British resident.
1817
63
 Lord Moira named Marquess of Hastings in 1817 for this success in the Gurkha war,.
In 1817 he offered the Marathas the choice of cooperation with the British against the Pindaris or war. The peshwa (titular ruler of the Maratha confederacy), the raja of Nagpur, and the army under Holkar II, ruler of Indore, chose war and were defeated. The Pindari bands were broken up, and, in a settlement, the peshwa's territories were annexed and the Rajput princes accepted British supremacy. 
1818
64
 By 1818 these developments had established British sovereignty over the whole of India east of the Sutlej River and Sindh. Hastings also suppressed pirate activities off the west coast of India and in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
1818 marks a watershed, when the British Empire in India became the British Empire of India.
1819
65
 Sent Sir Stamford Raffles to obtain the cession by purchase of the strategic island of Singapore.
1823
69
 Accused.  Hastings' competent administration, however, ended under a cloud because of his indulgence to a banking house. Though he was cleared of any corrupt motive, the home authorities censured him. He resigned and returned to England. 
1824
70
 Received the comparatively minor post of governor of Malta in 1824. 
1826
72
 Died, Nov. 28, 1826, off Naples on board H.M.S. Revenge anchored at Naples.  Body returned to Malta. Buried at Hastings Garden, Valetta, Malta. At his request, his right hand was amputated and sent home to be buried eventually with his wife.
. .
POST RAWDON
1828 . Two years after Hastings' death, members of the India House, to make some amends for their vote of censure, gave £20,000 to trustees for the benefit of Hastings' son George. 
1831 . Son George marries Barbara Yelverton, Baroness Grey de Ruthyn (1810-1858)
George's Children:
1. Paulyn Reginald Serlo Rawdon-Hastings, 3rd Marquess of Hastings (1832-1851)
2. Henry Weysford Charles Plantagenet, 4th Marquess of Hastings (1842-1868)
3. Edith Maude Abney-Hastings, Countess of Loudoun (1833-1874) (who, like her grandfather Francis, also willed her right hand to be cut off and buried in Donington Park)
4. Bertha Lelgarde Baroness Grey de Ruthyn
5. Victoria Maria Louisa
6. Frances Augusta Constance
1839 . Daughter Lady Flora Elizabeth Rawdon Hastings dies at Buckingham Palace after scandal.
1840 . Wife Lady Flora dies, of a broken heart over the loss of her daughter. Buried in the family vault in Loudoun Kirk.  Her husband's hand was laid in the grave with her.
1841 . Daughter Lady Flora Elizabeth's poetry published in a book.
last updated 2006/10/07
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