A History of the Mahrattas v1.c26.44

v1.c26.44

¹ [The Nawāb (Nabob) of Bengal was Sirāj-ud-daula, alias Mīrzā Muhammad, the grandson of Allahvardī Khān. Shujā-ud-daula was the Nawāb Vazīr of Oudh, whose power was broken by the British at the battle of Buxar in 1764. Sirāj-ud-daula succeeded to the Nawābī of Bengal in 1756, when he was about twenty-nine years of age. His capture of Calcutta is notorious for the Black Hole tragedy, and for the death from disease of many of the British who escaped from Calcutta to Falta. Calcutta was recaptured by Clive and Watson in 1757, and Sirāj-ud-daula was finally defeated at the battle of Plassy on June 23 of that year. Before Watson and Clive sailed for Bengal, the Madras government had dispatched a force of 240 men to relieve Calcutta, nearly all of whom died at Falta from the effects of the climate. (O.H.I., pp. 488-9, 491-4, and Add. and Corr. to O.H.I. under heading 488 n.) See footnote on page 426, ante.]