A new site, built from published sources. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us
Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Joseph François Dupleix

Governor of Pondicherry and of the French settlements in India from 1742 to 1754. By backing Muzaffar Jang and then Salabat Jang in the war for the Nizam's throne, he won for the French Company the grant of Masulipatam (1750) and, through his officer Bussy, the Northern Circars (1753). Superseded by Godeheu in 1754, he died in poverty in France.

Joseph François Dupleix was the French governor who turned the trading posts of the Compagnie des Indes into a territorial power.12 He was also the first European to obtain a grant of land in the Telugu country.12

G. B. Malleson, his biographer in the Rulers of India series (1890), says that he “was born at Landrecies in 1697”.3 He was the son of a Farmer-General (a collector of royal taxes) and director of the Company of the Indies.3 The Gazetteer of Southern India (1855) says that he was governor of Chandernagore from 1730.45 From 1742 he was governor of Pondicherry, with the other French establishments.45 See French East India Company.

Masulipatam and the Circars

When the war for the Nizam’s throne broke out after 1748, Dupleix backed Muzaffar Jang. He obtained from him a grant of Machilipatnam (then Masulipatam) and its country. Nasir Jang had the French factories (trading stations) at Machilipatnam and Yanam seized.1678 In 1750, after this, Dupleix secretly embarked troops on two ships lying at Pondicherry, and sent them to take the place.1678 The Kistna manual says he called his secret council only when all was ready.1678

When Muzaffar Jang became Subahdar (governor of the Deccan) in December 1750, he confirmed the grant of Machilipatnam and Divi.9 The Kistna manual says he also “made M. Dupleix Governor of all the country south of the Kistna”.9

Salabat Jang added the lands of Nizampatnam, Kondavidu (then Kondavid) and Narsapur.2 He gave Dupleix himself a territory in the district of Srikakulam (then Chicacole).2 The officer who won the four Circars for the Company in 1753 was Charles de Bussy.9 Bussy had volunteered to command the French troops that Dupleix sent with Muzaffar Jang.9

Called back to France, and death

In France the Company and the King’s ministers had grown weary of a distant war “which brought them neither glory nor profit”. Dupleix learned that he had been replaced.1011 His successor Godeheu anchored off Pondicherry on 1 August 1754 with an order for his recall.1011

The Gazetteer of Southern India says that Godeheu was sent because Dupleix’s character “was too well known to entrust any such pacific operations to him” (that is, peaceful dealings).5 Malleson quotes his memoir, written three days before he died: “I have sacrificed my youth, my fortune, my life, to enrich my nation in Asia.” He dates Dupleix’s death to 10 November 1764.1213

Footnotes

  1. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District (1883), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. G. B. Malleson, History of the French in India (1868), p. 275 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. G. B. Malleson, Dupleix (Rulers of India, 1890), p. 35 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. A Gazetteer of Southern India, with the Tenasserim Provinces and Singapore (1855), p. 310 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Gazetteer of Southern India (1855), p. 311 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Mackenzie, Kistna District (1883), p. 45 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Malleson, French in India (1868), p. 252 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Malleson, French in India (1868), p. 253 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Mackenzie, Kistna District (1883), p. 46 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. Malleson, Dupleix (1890), p. 156 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. Malleson, Dupleix (1890), p. 158 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Malleson, Dupleix (1890), p. 164 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  13. Malleson, Dupleix (1890), p. 165 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Photos

Dynasties

French East India Company

1750–1759 CE

The French Compagnie des Indes in the Telugu country. It traded at Masulipatam (Machilipatnam) from 1669 and at Yanam from before 1750. Dupleix and Bussy helped the Nizams Muzaffar Jang and Salabat Jang to the throne. In return the Company received Masulipatam and its country (1750), the Kondavid country (1751–52) and the four Northern Circars of Mustafanagar (Kondapalli), Ellore, Rajahmundry and Chicacole (1753), to pay for Bussy's army in the Deccan. Bussy governed the Circars through the Raja of Vizianagaram and the zamindars. In 1757 he destroyed Bobbili and took the English factories. Colonel Forde's victory at Condore (Chandurti) in December 1758 and his storm of Masulipatam in April 1759 ended French rule on the coast. By the treaty of May 1759 Salabat Jang shut the French out of the Deccan. Yanam, taken and given back several times, stayed French until 1954.

References

Sources (4)
  1. G. B. Malleson, Dupleix (Rulers of India) (opens in a new tab), Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1890, pp. 35, 156, 158, 164–165. [Public domain]
  2. G. B. Malleson, History of the French in India, from the Founding of Pondichery in 1674 to the Capture of that Place in 1761 (opens in a new tab), Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1868, pp. 252–253, 275. [Public domain]
  3. 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. 44–46. [Public domain]
  4. Pharoah and Co. (comp.), A Gazetteer of Southern India, with the Tenasserim Provinces and Singapore (opens in a new tab), Pharoah and Co., Madras, 1855, pp. 310–311. [Public domain]

Spotted an error on this page? Tell us

Last updated: