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Francis Forde

Irish officer of the 39th Foot, sent by Clive from Bengal in 1758. He routed the French under Conflans at Condore (Chandurti) near Pithapuram on 9 December 1758 and stormed Masulipatam in April 1759, so winning the Northern Circars from the French for the East India Company. He had earlier led the English detachment in the failed attack on Nellore (1757). Appointed one of the Company's Supervisors in 1769, he was lost at sea when the frigate Aurora disappeared after leaving the Cape at the end of that year.

Francis Forde was the English commander whose campaign of 1758–59 took the Telugu coast from the French.12 Colonel Lionel Forde wrote a memoir of him, which appeared in 1910.3 He says that Francis was “the second son of Matthew Forde of Seaforde, Co. Down”.3 Francis came to India in September 1754 as a captain in the 39th Foot, the first King’s regiment to serve there.3

He first appears in history in 1757.456 That year the Nawab of Arcot asked the English for help against his brother Najib-ullah at Nellore.456 Forde commanded the English detachment, which failed to take the town.456 See Najib-ullah Khan.

Condore and Masulipatam

In 1758 Clive, at Calcutta, sent Forde by sea to the Northern Circars (the northern coastal districts) with “500 Europeans, including the artillery-men, 2000 Sepoys, and 100 Lascars” (Indian soldiers and seamen).71 Forde was to join the Raja of Vizianagaram against the French.71

On 9 December 1758, near the village Orme calls Condore, he met the French army under Conflans and routed it.89 Orme says that “no victory could be more complete”.89 His sepoys took Rajahmundry the next day.910 The Godavari gazetteer identifies Condore with Chandurti near Pithapuram.11

Forde reached Machilipatnam (then Masulipatam) on 6 March 1759.21213 His ammunition was nearly gone, and Salabat Jang’s army was approaching.21213 He resolved to storm the fort rather than retreat by sea, which Orme says he “regarded … as intolerable disgrace”.21213 The fort fell in the night of 7–8 April, with more prisoners than Forde had men.21213 See Chandurti and Machilipatnam.

On 12 May (Orme’s date) Salabat Jang signed the treaty that gave the English the Machilipatnam country and shut the French out of the Deccan.1415 Orme says that Salabat Jang offered Forde a district near Machilipatnam as a jagir (land grant) if he would march with him against his brother.1415 Forde asked instead for his help against the remaining French troops, and neither would oblige the other.1415

Forde handed the government to John Andrews on 15 October 1759.1617 He sailed for Bengal in the middle of that month.1617 There, Lionel Forde says, he beat the Dutch force at Badara, between Chandernagore and Chinsura, in November 1759.18 See French East India Company and Dutch East India Company.

Death

In 1769 Forde was appointed, with Vansittart and Scrafton, one of the three Supervisors sent out by the Company to Bengal. They sailed in the frigate Aurora, which reached the Cape on 6 December 1769.19 The ship left on the 27th “and was never heard of again, having foundered at sea with all hands” (sank with everyone on board).19 His biographer quotes Sir A. Arbuthnot’s complaint that Forde’s services were “left, as they were, entirely unrecognised”.19

Footnotes

  1. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 31 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. Lionel Forde, Lord Clive’s Right-Hand Man: A Memoir of Colonel Francis Forde (1910), p. xi (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Forde, Lord Clive’s Right-Hand Man (1910), p. xii (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. John A. C. Boswell, A Manual of the Nellore District (1873), p. 452 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Boswell, Nellore District (1873), p. 454 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. II (Madras reprint, 1861), p. 364 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 377 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 382 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 383 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 227, s.v. Chandurti (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 483 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  13. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 489 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  14. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 492 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 493 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  16. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District (1883), p. 70 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  17. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 558 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  18. Forde, Lord Clive’s Right-Hand Man (1910), p. 136 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  19. Forde, Lord Clive’s Right-Hand Man (1910), p. 171 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

Photos

References

Sources (5)
  1. Lionel Forde, Lord Clive's Right-Hand Man: A Memoir of Colonel Francis Forde (opens in a new tab), Nisbet and Co., London, 1910, xi–xii, 136, 171. [Public domain]
  2. Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. II (Madras reprint) (opens in a new tab), Pharoah and Co., Madras, 1861, pp. 364, 377–383, 483, 489, 492–493, 557–558. [Public domain]
  3. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 31–32. [Public domain]
  4. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government of Madras (Lawrence Asylum Press), 1883, pp. 70. [Public domain]
  5. John A. C. Boswell, A Manual of the Nellore District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government of Madras, 1873, pp. 451–454. [Public domain]

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