Lord George Pigot, the Nawab of Arcot and the Pillage of the South India PART I

i

Lord George Pigot (1719-1777)

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

PART I

There is a curious episode in the History of Old Madras that still remains a mystery. The death of a Governor of the Presidency, at the hands of his jailors who happened to be members of his own Council. Historians have neglecte this event largely because they felt that the events surrounding the deposition and subsequent death of George Pigot is so murky that it is best left to linger in that NeverNever Lnad between Hstorical Reality and imagination, The perpetrators would have gotten away with the crime but for the fact that the Governor's brother Sir Hugh Pigot, who comanded the British Forces at Bumker Hill, was a Member of the Hous of Commons and demanded a trial of all those connected or associated with the removal of the Governor. Sir Hugh Pigot was supported by Edmund Burke, the great Stateman of  the eighteenth century. The trial of George Straton anf John Call the two main conspirators was presided over by the Jusrist whose name is remembered till this day for the Judgement he gave in the Somersett Case: Lord Mansfield. Though they were tried for the capital offence of murder, they were acquitted of the charge of murder but were convicted of other henious offences and were ade to pay 1000 punds to the famiy of Lord Pigot.

Pondicherry after capture by the EIC

George Pigot came to India as a young lad of 17 and worked his way from the lowly position of a writer to the position of Governor of Madras Presidency. He served in madras and in Fort St, David and by all accounts he was an efficient administrator. From 1776 till his elevation to the Governorship of the Presidency, Pigot organized the "warehousing" ie, the manufacture and acqusition of Cloth and their coleection in the warehouses of the Comapany located in Fort St, George. Apart from textiles and other kinds of merchandise, Pigot was also involved in military duties as he had command over both Tamil and Portuguese having spent almost his entire adult life in this region. He became the Governor in 1755 and the first major challenge he face was the invasion of Dupliex, the French Governor of Pondicherry. He defended the city of Madras and took the battle right to the door step of Dupliex when he ordered Sir Eyre Coote to capture Pondicherry. The town was captured and raised to the ground. A contemporary print shows the total destruction of the town. The fortification walls first erected in 1654 by the Dutch were pulled down and the East India Company had planned to keep Pondicherry. However, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle forced the Company to return the town.

The Carnatic Wars caused huge loss of life and property in the region and essentially had three major protagonists: The Nawab of Arcot, the infamus Mohammad Ali, the Ruler of Mysore, first Hyder Ali and later his son, Tipu Sultan and the East India Company. Hoewever a large number of mnor actor crowded the stage and one of them was Tulaji the King of Tanavur and a host of smaller rulers who are known as Palaiyakkararars of Polygars, particularly in the dry region of the extrme south of the Peninsula where the name Kattaboman still resonates. The East India Company, at least at this point in time, preferred to clock its territorial and political claims behind a fascade of legitimacy derived from the pre British political order and hence the Nawab of Carnatic as the representative of the Nizam who in turn was an appointee of the Mugh ruler of Delhi, was vital to the designs and ambitions of the Company.

(Will be continued in Part II)