Brigadier-General John Carnac (c. 1721 – 29 November 1800) was a British officer who served three times as Commander-in-Chief of India.
John Carnac | |
|---|---|
 Miniature of John Carnac (1786) by Ozias Humphry | |
| Born | c. 1721 |
| Died | 29 November 1800 Mangalore, Kingdom of Mysore |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Service | British Army |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Commands | Indian Army |
Early life
editJohn Carnac was baptised in London on 12 April 1721. He was the son of Captain Peter Carnac (1665–1756), and Andrienne, née Lelonte (died c. 1762).[1] His parents were French Huguenot immigrants. He had brothers called Pierre (Peter), Isaac and Scipio.[2] The family moved to Dublin, where John studied at Trinity College, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1740.[1] Later in his life, Carnac still corresponded with his family and their friends in French.[2]
Military career
editJohn Carnac voyaged to India as a lieutenant in the 39th Regiment in 1754[1] and served at Madras as secretary and aide-de-camp to the colonel of the regiment, John Adlercron.[1] He joined the service of the East India Company as Captain in 1758 after transferring from the 39th foot.[1] After his arrival in Bengal he became secretary and aide-de-camp to Robert Clive, governor of Bengal, and joined him in an expedition against the Prince Ali Gauhar, son of the Mughal emperor Alamgir II.[1]
In 1761 he engaged with and defeated Shah Alam II.[1] He became Brigadier-General in 1764[1] and participated with Clive in the negotiations with Shuja-ud-Daula and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II in 1765.[1]
In 1767, Carnac resigned from the company's service in January and returned to England.[1] He purchased an estate near Ringwood in Hampshire and also participated in a largely unsuccessful housing development in Southampton.[1] From 1768 to 1773 he served as M.P. for Leominster. In 1772 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[3]
By 1773 Carnac was short of money and he returned to India as a member of the Council at Bombay.[1] He was dismissed from the East India Company for his involvement in the Convention of Wadgaon in 1779[1][4] and died at Mangalore in November 1800.[1]
Family
edit
In 1765 John Carnac married Elizabeth Woollaston.[1] Then in 1769 he married Elizabeth Catherine Rivett[1] (1751–80), daughter of Thomas Rivett (1713-1763),[5] who had been an MP and Mayor of Derby. A 1775-76 portrait of Mrs. Carnac by Sir Joshua Reynolds hangs in the Wallace Collection in London;[5] a 1778 mezzotint engraving by John Raphael Smith after Reynolds' painting is at the Art Museum of Estonia,[6] with a proof impression at the British Museum.[7]
John Carnac's last will and testament made his brother-in-law James Rivett his heir, provided that he assumed the additional name of Carnac, which he did in 1801.[1] Two of James's sons became famous: Sir James Rivett-Carnac, 1st Bt, became a Governor of Bombay Presidency, while Admiral John Rivett-Carnac became an early explorer of Australia, where Carnac Island was named in his honor by Captain James Stirling when Rivett-Carnac was first lieutenant on HMS Success on the Swan River expedition of 1827.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Prior, D. L. (23 September 2004). "Carnac, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4711. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b Kuiters, Willem G. J. (2002). The British in Bengal, 1756-1773: A Society in Transition Seen Through the Biography of a Rebel: William Bolts (1739-1808). Paris: Les Indes savantes. p. 153, note 83. ISBN 978-2-84654-004-9.
- ^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 17 March 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Convention of Wadgaon". Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ a b "Joshua Reynolds, Mrs Elizabeth Carnac". Wallace Collection Online. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
- ^ "John Raphael Smith, Mrs. Elizabeth Carnac". Art Museum of Estonia Digital Collection. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
- ^ "John Raphael Smith, Mrs Carnac, a mezzotint after a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds". British Museum. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
External links
edit- James Rivett profile. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
- Usher Family in Scotland: John Carnac profile. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
- Usher Family in Scotland: Elizabeth Rivett, later Carnac profile. Retrieved 10 March 2009.