Editing Robert Clive (section)

==Retirement and death==
Clive left India for the last time in February 1767. In 1768, he lived at the Chateau de Larzac in [[Pézenas]], [[Hérault]], [[Languedoc-Roussillon]] in southern France. Local tradition is that he introduced local bakers to a sweet pastry, [[Petit pâté de Pézenas]], and that he (or his chef) had brought the recipe from India as a refined version of the savoury [[Naan|keema naan]].<ref>[http://www.coolvines.com/wines/348754778894/Domaine-de-Larzac-Rousanne-Chardonnay-2007 Domaine de Larzac] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911093618/http://www.coolvines.com/wines/348754778894/Domaine-de-Larzac-Rousanne-Chardonnay-2007 |date=11 September 2016 }}, coolvines.com, accessed 30 January 2012</ref> Pézenas is known for such delicacies.

[[File:Pézenas trois pigeons.jpg|thumb|Plaque in memory of Lord Clive in [[Pézenas]]]]

Later in 1768, Clive was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]<ref name=Compeerage /> and served as treasurer of the [[Royal Salop Infirmary]] in Shrewsbury.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keeling-Roberts |first=Margaret |title=In Retrospect: A Short History of The Royal Salop Infirmary |publisher=North Shropshire Printing Co Ltd |year=1981 |isbn=0-9507849-0-7 |page=ix}}</ref>

In 1769, he acquired the house and gardens of [[Claremont (country house)|Claremont]] near [[Esher]] in [[Surrey]], and commissioned [[Capability Brown]] to remodel the garden and house.

[[Great Bengal famine of 1770|A great famine]] killed about a third of the population of Bengal between 1769 and 1773. It was argued at the time, notably by [[Adam Smith]], that East India Company officials caused the famine due to bad management, particularly their abuse of trade monopoly and land tax for personal gain.<ref>Smith, Adam (1776). The Wealth of Nations, Book 4, Chap. 5, Par. 45.</ref><ref>Dirks, Nicholas (2006) The scandal of Empire - India and the creation of Imperial Britain {{ISBN|978-8178241753}}</ref> These revelations and subsequent debates in Parliament reduced Clive's political popularity.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

In 1772 Parliament opened an inquiry into the East India Company's practices in India. Clive's political opponents turned these hearings into attacks on Clive. Questioned about some of the large sums of money he had received while in India, Clive pointed out that they were not contrary to accepted Company practice, and defended his behaviour by stating that he had foregone opportunities for greater gain, concluding memorably: "I stand astonished at my own moderation.” The hearings highlighted the need for reform of the Company; but a vote to censure Clive for his actions failed. Later in 1772, Clive was invested [[Order of the Bath|Knight of the Bath]] (eight years after he had been made knight bachelor),<ref name=Compeerage /> and was appointed [[Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire]].

Clive continued to be involved in Parliamentary discussions on company reforms. In 1773, General [[John Burgoyne]], one of Clive's most vocal critics, pressed the case that some of Clive's gains were made at the expense of the Company and of the government. Clive again made a spirited defence of his actions, and closed his testimony by stating: "Take my fortune, but save my honour." The vote that followed exonerated Clive, who was commended for the "great and meritorious service" he rendered to the country. Immediately thereafter Parliament began debating the [[Regulating Act 1773|Regulating Act]], which significantly reformed the East India Company's practices.

On 22 November 1774 Clive died, aged 49, at his home [[Berkeley Square]] in London. His death was caused by a cut to his throat from a [[penknife]] he held. The cause of his death has long been the subject of controversy. No inquest was carried out, and contemporary newspapers reported the death as due to an apoplectic fit or stroke.<ref name="Bence-Jones">{{Cite book |last=Bence-Jones |first=Mark |title=Clive of India |publisher=Constable |year=1974 |isbn=0-09-459830-4 |page=299}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-11|title=Robert Clive was a vicious asset-stripper. His statue has no place on Whitehall {{!}} William Dalrymple|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/11/robert-clive-statue-whitehall-british-imperial|access-date=2022-01-31|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> Clive’s 20th-century biographer John Watney concluded ambiguously: "He did not die from a self-inflicted wound ... He died as he severed his jugular with a blunt paper knife brought on by an overdose of drugs".<ref name="Watney">{{Cite book |last=Watney |first=John |title=Clive of India |publisher=Saxon House |year=1974 |isbn=0-347-00008-8 |pages=216–217}}</ref> While Clive left no [[suicide note]], [[Samuel Johnson]] wrote that he "had acquired his fortune by such crimes that his consciousness of them impelled him to cut his own throat".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=William |author-link=William Dalrymple (historian) |title=The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2019 |page=235 |isbn=978-1-4088-6440-1}}</ref> Clive's demise has been linked to his history of depression and to opium addiction, but the likely immediate impetus was excruciating pain resulting from [[gallstone]]s which he had been attempting to abate with opium.{{Citation needed|reason=needs attribution|date=May 2020}} According to [[William Dalrymple]], Clive suffered from acute depression from an early age, and tried to take his own life twice in his youth. During his Indian stint depression also troubled him. He was morose, and spoke little. 

He was buried in St Margaret's Parish Church at [[Moreton Say]], near his birthplace in [[Shropshire]]. After his death, a satirical cartoon in a London newspaper represented him as 'Lord Vulture', picking the bones of the Indian dead, perhaps referring to the Bengal famine.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2020-06-12 |title=Robert Clive: An 'unstable sociopath and a racist', hated both in India and England |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/research/robert-clive-an-unstable-sociopath-and-a-racist-hated-both-in-india-and-england-6455033/ |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>