Eyre Coote (East India Company officer)

Lieutenant-General The Right Honourable Sir Eyre Coote KB
Member of Parliament for Poole
In office 1774–1780
Preceded by	Joseph Gulston Thomas Calcraft
Succeeded by	Joseph Gulston William Morton Pitt
Personal details
Born	1726 Kilmallock, Ireland
Died	28 April 1783 Madras, British India
Awards	Order of the Bath
Military service
Nickname(s)	Coote the Brave
Allegiance	Great Britain East India Company
Service/branch	British Army Bengal Army
Years of service	1745–1783
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands	84th Regiment of Foot Commander-in-Chief of India
Battles/wars	Jacobite Rebellion Second Carnatic War Seven Years' War Second Anglo-Mysore War

Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote, KB (1726 – 28 April 1783) was a British soldier. He is best known for his many years of service with the British Army in India. His victory at the Battle of Wandiwash is considered a decisive turning point in the struggle for control in India between Britain and France. He was known by his sepoy troops as Coote Bahadur (Coote the Brave).

A member of the Coote family headed by the Earl of Mountrath, he was born in Kilmallock, near Limerick, Ireland, the son of the Reverend Chidley Coote and Jane Evans, daughter of George Evans and sister of George Evans, 1st Baron Carbery. He entered the 27th Regiment of Foot. He first saw active service in the Jacobite rising of 1745, and later obtained a captaincy in the 39th Regiment, the first regular British regiment to serve in India.

In 1756 a part of the regiment, then quartered at Madras, was sent forward to join Robert Clive in his operations against Calcutta which had recently been captured by the forces of the Nawab of Bengal, which had been followed by the Black Hole of Calcutta. The city was reoccupied without difficulty in January 1757. However, Coote and Clive argued so violently over who should reoccupy Fort William that they almost fired at each other, which began a lifelong rivalry and hatred between the two men.

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