Editing Robert Clive (section)

==Early life==
Robert Clive was born at [[Styche Hall|Styche]], the Clive family estate, near [[Market Drayton]] in [[Shropshire]], on 29 September 1725 to Richard Clive and Rebecca (née Gaskell) Clive.<ref>Arbuthnot, p. 1</ref> The family had held the small estate since the time of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] and had a lengthy history of public service: members of the family included a Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland under [[Henry VIII]], and a member of the [[Long Parliament]]. Robert's father, who supplemented the estate's modest income by practising as a lawyer, also served in Parliament for many years, representing [[Montgomeryshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Montgomeryshire]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Robert was their eldest son of thirteen children; he had seven sisters and five brothers, six of whom died in infancy.<ref name="Harvey1998_11">Harvey (1998), p. 11</ref>

[[File:DraytonStMarys.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|left|[[St Mary's Church, Market Drayton]], whose tower Clive is reputed to have climbed]]

Clive's father was known to have a temper, which the boy apparently inherited. For reasons that are unknown, Clive was sent to live with his mother's sister in [[Manchester]] while still a toddler. The site is now [[Salford Royal Hospital|Hope Hospital]]. Biographer Robert Harvey suggests that this move was made because Clive's father was busy in London trying to provide for the family.<ref>Harvey (1998), p. 10</ref> Daniel Bayley, the sister's husband, reported that the boy was "out of measure addicted to fighting".{{sfn|Malleson|1893|p=9}}<ref>Arbuthnot,[worth noting this is being written of a 6 year old toddler] p. 2</ref> He was a regular troublemaker in the schools to which he was sent.{{sfn|Malleson|1893|p=10}} When he was older he and a gang of teenagers established a [[protection racket]] that vandalised the shops of uncooperative merchants in Market Drayton. [Note : the original of these stories first occurs in John Malcolm's 1836 biography which say these were verbal anecdotes given to him, third hand, in 1827, 53 years after Robert Clive's death] There Clive also exhibited fearlessness at an early age. He is reputed to have climbed the tower of St Mary's Parish Church in Market Drayton and perched on a [[gargoyle]], frightening those down below.<ref name="Treasure196">Treasure, p. 196</ref> 

When Clive was nine his aunt died, and, after a brief stint in his father's cramped London quarters, he returned to Shropshire. There he attended the Market Drayton Grammar School, where his unruly behaviour (and an improvement in the family's fortunes) prompted his father to send him to [[Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood|Merchant Taylors' School]] in London. His bad behaviour continued, and he was then sent to a trade school in [[Hertfordshire]] to complete a basic education.<ref name=Harvey1998_11/> Despite his early lack of scholarship, in his later years he devoted himself to improving his education. He eventually developed a distinctive writing style, and a speech in the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|House of Commons]] was described by [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]] as the most eloquent he had ever heard.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}