Charles Cornwallis

English - English

Definition of Charles Cornwallis in English English dictionary

{i} First Marquess Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805), British general during the Revolutionary War (surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown in 1781)

Related Terms

Charles Cornwallis 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl Cornwallis

born Dec. 31, 1738, London, Eng. died Oct. 5, 1805, Ghazipur, India British soldier and statesman. In 1780, during the American Revolution, he was appointed British commander in the American South. He defeated Horatio Gates at Camden, S.C., then marched into Virginia and encamped at Yorktown (see Siege of Yorktown). Trapped and besieged there, he was forced to surrender his army (1781), a defeat that effectively ended military operations in the war. Despite his defeat, he retained esteem in England. As governor-general of India (1786-93, 1805), he introduced legal and administrative reforms; the Cornwallis Code (1793) established a tradition of incorruptible British civil servants. In the third Mysore War he defeated Tippu Sultan in 1792. As viceroy of Ireland (1798-1801), he supported the parliamentary union of Britain and Ireland. He negotiated the Anglo-French Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Reappointed governor-general of India in 1805, he died shortly after his arrival there

Lord Charles Cornwallis

a British military leader who was in charge of the British army during the American Revolutionary War. He later became Governor-General of India (1738-1805)

Hyphenation

Charles Corn·wal·lis

Turkish pronunciation

çärlz kôrnwôlıs

Pronunciation

/ˈʧärlz kôrnˈwôləs/ /ˈʧɑːrlz kɔːrnˈwɔːləs/