Hastings, Francis Rawdon, 1st Marquess of Hastings (1754-1826)

British governor-general of India. He was a strong and imaginative administrator, devoting himself to the successful consolidation of British rule. He spent his last years, from 1824-26, as governor of Malta.

Hastings was born in County Down, Ireland. He was educated at Harrow and Oxford University and then served in the British army. From 1775-82 he fought in the War of American Independence, and was made Baron Rawdon on his return to Great Britain in 1783. He subsequently fought in Flanders in 1794, was appointed commander-in-chief in Scotland in 1803, master-general of the ordnance in 1806, and governor-general of India in 1813.