Foster 53

Robert Clive, lst Baron Plassey (1725-74). Governor of Bengal. Made 1764

Full-length figure, bareheaded, in Roman costume but wearing the badge of the Order of the Bath on a ribbon round his neck. He holds a short sword in his right hand. At his feet a shield with the device of Medusa’s head.

Marble: 66 ins high (166 cms) high

Inscribed on front: ‘Robert, Lord Clive. Baron of Plassey, Knight of the Bath. A.D. 1764:’ on side: ‘P. Scheemakers Ft’

Commissioned by the East India Company, 1760

This statue and F54 and F573 were commissioned from Scheemakers at the same time. The following extracts refer to this group of statues:'Resolved Unanimously that the Chairman and Deputy when they wait upon Vice-Admiral Pocock, Colonel Clive and Colonel Lawrence (to thank them on behalf of the Company for their services) will desire those Gentlemen to give their Consent that their Portraits or Statues be taken in order to be placed in some conspicuous parts of this House, that their Eminent and Signal Services to this Company may be ever had in remembrance’ (Minutes of a General Court, 24 September, 1760).

‘On a Motion Order’d that the Statues directed to be placed in this House in pursuance of the Resolution of the General Court of the 24th September 1760, be disposed in the following Order in the General Court Room, and that the inscriptions on the Plinths of their Pedestals be made as follows, viz:-

In the Southern Nich - Robert, Lord Clive, Baron of Plassey, Knight of the Bath. A.D. 1764.

In the Center Nich - Sir George Pocock, Knight of the Bath, Admiral of the Blue. A.D. 1764.

In the Northern Nich - Major-General Stringer Lawrence. A.D. 1764' (Court Minutes, 25 July 1764).

According to the Third Report of the Committee of Secrecy, 1773, the cost of the three statues was £605.10.0.

Clive served in India 1774-53, 1756-60, 1765-67. Baron, 1762; K.C.B., 1764.