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Warren Hastings, (1732-1818), was the first governor general of India. He extended British rule in India and improved the courts and tax systems. He also encouraged the study of Indian culture.
Hastings was born in Oxfordshire, England. In 1750, he went to India as a clerk with the East India Company, a British trading company.
In 1774, he was appointed governor general. He resigned in 1785 and returned to England. There, political enemies led by dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan and statesmen Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox accused him of betraying British ideals of justice and fair play. They impeached him on charges of corruption and misuse of power. After a trial that lasted from 1788 to 1795, Hastings was acquitted (declared innocent). But the trial used up all his money and he lived the rest of his life on a pension from the East India Company.
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