Joseph François Dupleix – Life History
Joseph-François,
Marquis Dupleix (1 January 1697 – 10 November 1763) was Governor-General of French
India and rival of Robert
Clive.
Biography
Dupleix
was born in Landrecies, France. His father, François Dupleix, a wealthy fermier general,
wished to bring him up as a merchant, and, in order to distract him from his
taste for science, sent him on a voyage to India in 1715 on one of the French East India Company's vessels. He made several voyages to the Americas and India, and in 1720 was named a member of the
superior council at Pondicherry. He displayed great business aptitude, and, in addition
to his official duties, made large ventures on his own account, and acquired a
fortune.
In 1730
he was made superintendent of French affairs in Chandernagore, the town prospered under his administration and grew
into great importance. In 1741, he married Jeanne
Albert, widow of one of the councilors of
the company; Albert was known to the Hindus as Joanna
Begum and proved of great help to
her husband in his negotiations with the native princes. His reputation
procured him in 1742 the appointment of governor general of all French
establishments in India. He succeeded Dumas as the French governor of Pondicherry.
His
ambition now was to acquire for France vast territories in India, and for this
purpose he entered into relations with the native princes, and adopted a style
of oriental splendour in his dress and surroundings. He built an army of native
troops, called sepoys, who were trained as infantrymen men in his service also
included the famous Hyder
Ali of Mysore. The British took the alarm. But the danger to their
settlements and power was partly averted by the bitter mutual jealousy which
existed between Dupleix and Bertrand François Mahé de La
Bourdonnais, French governor of the
Isle of Bourbon (today's La
Réunion).
When the
city of Madras capitulated to the French following the Battle
of Madras in 1746, Dupleix opposed the
restoration of the town to the British, thus violating the treaty signed by La
Bourdonnais. He then sent an expedition against Fort
St David (1747), which was defeated on
its march by the Nawab
of Arcot, ally of the British. Dupleix
succeeded in winning over the Nawab, and again attempted the capture of Fort St
David, but did not succeed. A midnight attack on Cuddalore was repulsed at a great loss to Dupleix.
In
1748 Pondicherry was besieged by the British, but in the course of
the operations news arrived of the peace concluded between the French and the
British at Aix-la-Chapelle. Dupleix next entered into negotiations whose object
was the subjugation of southern India. He sent a large body of troops to the
aid of the two claimants of the sovereignty of the Carnatic and the Deccan. The British sided with their rivals to check the
designs of Dupleix.
In 1750
the Subadar of Deccan gifted the Alamparai
Fort to the French. This was a token of his
appreciation of the services of Dupleix and the French forces to his services.
The fort was later captured by the British and destroyed. From 1751, Dupleix
tried to expand French influence in Burma by sending the
envoy Sieur de Bruno, and helping militarily the Hmongs in their conflict with the Burmese.
The
conflicts between the French and the British in India continued till 1754, when
the French government, anxious to settle peace, sent a special commissioner to
India with orders to supersede Dupleix and, if necessary, to arrest him.
Dupleix was compelled to embark for France on 12 October 1754. Jeanne
Albert died in 1756. Having invested
his private fortune in the implementation of his public policies, Dupleix found
himself ruined. The government refused to support him, and he died in obscurity
and want on 10 November 1763.
Commemoration
A number
of things were named in his honour:
·
A square, road and metro station in the 15th arrondissement of Paris are named after him.
· Four French warships have
borne his name (beside two commercial ships)
·
The steam corvette Dupleix (1861–1887), famous for her involvement in the
Japanese revolution
·
A 7700-tonne Armoured
cruiser (1897–1919)
·
A 10,000 tonne cruiser
(1929–1942), scuttled in Toulon
·
The F70 type frigate Dupleix, currently in commission.
·
A road in New
Delhi near the Indian parliament
named after him.
· Rue Dupleix (Dupleix
Street) was the former name of Nehru Street in Pondicherry.
