Lord_Cornwallis

Lord Cornwallis Adrian Payne The Beginning On December 31, 1738, Charles Cornwallis was born the second Earl Cornwallis, since his father, the fifth Baron Cornwallis, had been rewarded as a Viscount and the first Earl Cornwallis. In 1661, Sir Frederick Cornwallis was rewarded a baron try by Charles II for service to the Stuarts. His mother was the niece of Sir Robert Walpole. His uncle became he Archbishop of Canterbury. Cornwallis was educated at Eton and moved in elite social circles. In 1756, about a month before his eighteenth birthday, Cornwallis purchased an ensign's commission in the Grenadier Guards and then took the extraordinary measure of attending a military school in Turin, Italy to actually study for the position. He actually only stayed a few months, because he learned that his regiment had been called up to serve in the Seven Years' War in the allied army under Prince Ferdinand in 1758. He never caught up with his own regiment, but he soon became aide-de-camp to the British second-in-command Marquis of Granby, who would eventually command all British forces on the European continent. He was present at the Battle of Minden on August 1, 1759. After serving as a staff officer for about a year, in August 1759, Cornwallis was promoted to Captain in the 85th regiment and returned cornwallis, washington, british, after, men, greene, carolina, american, general, colonel, became, august, south, led, clinton, back, americans, war, new, march, captured, battle, philadelphia, officer, now, november, left, howe, force, command, against, virginia