Robert Clive, known as Clive of India , was born on the 29th of
September 1725, in . As a boy he was sent to several school s,
but appeared to benefit little from this. In 1743, at the age of
eighteen, he joined the service of the East India Company clerk,
and went to Madras , where he arrived in 1744. In Madras Clive
spent much time studying in the Governor's library. At this
time, the Mughal Empire had declined to the point that the
various Indian princes were practically independent, and the
English and French East India Companies each supported rival
princes who were friendly to them. In 1746 the French attacked
and took Madras. Clive escaped from the town to Fort St. David,
where he joined the military forces of the East India Company as
an Ensign. The fighting soon ended, however; in 1748 the treaty
of Aix-la-Chapelle returned Madras to England, and Clive
returned to civilian duties, with responsibility for acquiring
supplies for the Madras garrison. Hostilities soon broke out
again. In 1751, during a d