Nationality British Died 1789 | Name Robert Barker | |
Role Commander-in-chief in Bengal | ||
Brigadier-General Sir Robert Barker, 1st Baronet, FRS (1732 – 14 September 1789) was a British soldier. He served as Commander-in-Chief, India between 1770 and 1773.
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Military career
Barker went to India in 1749 and in 1757, during the Seven Years' War, commanded the artillery at the Capture of Chandannagar and at the Battle of Plassey. In 1762 he went on an expedition to Manila in the Philippines. He was knighted on 16 January 1764.
Two years later he returned to India to protect the Nawab wazir of Oudh Shuja-ud-Daula. In 1769 he became Commander-in-Chief, India but exceeded his authority by committing the East India Company to guaranteeing a treaty and by confronting a possible Maratha Empire invasion.
He resigned in 1773 and returned to England becoming Member of Parliament for Wallingford in 1774. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1775. In 1781 he was created a baronet, of Bushbridge in the County of Surrey.
Family
In 1780 he married Anne Hallows: they had no children. They lived at Bushbridge near Godalming in Surrey.