Robert Fletcher

Sir Robert Fletcher ( 173824 December 1776) was an officer of the East India Company and a member of parliament for Cricklade. Fletcher joined the East India Company as a junior clerk in 1757 but soon transferred to its army. As a lieutenant he was cashiered (dismissed) for insolence but was later restored. Fletcher was awarded a knighthood for gallantry in battle and rose in rank to lieutenant-colonel in command of a brigade. He was court-martialled and cashiered for the second time by Robert Clive for involvement in the 1766 Monghyr Mutiny. Returning to Britain Fletcher, during the 1768 general election, stood unsuccessfully at Malmesbury before finding a seat at Cricklade. In parliament, he opposed the government of William Pitt before he was restored to service with the East India Company after the intercession of a fellow MP. He afterwards voted in support of the government. Fletcher returned to India in 1772 to command the Madras Army. He soon came into conflict with the presidency's governor Josias Du Pre, after which Fletcher chose to leave India and return to Britain. He considered standing at the 1774 British general election but withdrew the day before the poll. Returning to India in 1775, Fletcher again came into conflict with the governor, Lord Pigot, which culminated in Pigot's arrest. Sick with tuberculosis, Fletcher undertook a sea voyage to convalesce but died at Mauritius during his travels. Early life and career Robert Fletcher was born circa 1738 to Robert Fletcher and Elizabeth Fletcher (née Lyon). During his youth his father served as a major in Lord Ogilvy's regiment of the Jacobite Army during the rising of 1745. After the defeat of the Jacobites, he fled to Bergen, Norway and did not return to Scotland until 1754.