, son of Richard Clive, esq. was born on the 29th of September 1725,
, son of Richard Clive, esq. was born
on the 29th of September 1725, at Styche, the seat of his
ancestors, in the parish of Moreton-Say, near Market Drayton. His father, who possessed but a small estate by inheritance, had, to increase his income, engaged in the
profession of the law. At an early period of his youth,
Robert was sent for his education to a private school at
Lostock in Cheshire. The master, Dr. Eaton, soon discovered in his scholar a superior courage and sagacity which
prognosticated the future hero. “If this lad,
” he would
say, “should live to be a man, and an opportunity be
given for the exertion of his talents, few names wdi be
greater than his.
” At the age of eleven he was removed
from Lostock to a school at Market Drayton, of which the
reverend Mr. Burslem was the master. On the side of a high
hill in that town is an ancient church, with a lofty steeple,
from nearly the top of which is an old stone spout, projecting in the form of a dragon’s head. Young Clive
ascended this steeple, and, to the astonishment of the
spectators below, seated himself on the spout. Having remained a short time at Mr. Burslem’s school, he was placed
in that of Merchant Taylors’ at London, which, however,
did not long retain him as a scholar. His father having
reverted to what seems to have been a predilection for private schools, committed him to the care of Mr. Sterling,
at Hemel Hempstead, in Hertfordshire, with whom he continued till, in 1743, he received an appointment as a
writer to the East India company. From the frequency of
his removals, to which perhaps was added an intractable
disposition, he obtained no applause, but rather the reverse, from the several masters to whom the care of his
education had been entrusted.