Joseph François Dupleix

In 1741, Joseph François Dupleix began to cherish the ambition of a French Empire in India but could not sell the idea to his superiors. The series of skirmished began in India when the conflict of the British and French started. In 1744 Robert Clive arrived in India. This devil British Officer ruined the hopes of Dupleix to create a French Colonial India.

• In 1761, Pondicherry was captured by the British and since then the French colonies in India have been unimportant.

Joseph François Dupleix was born in Landrecies, France in 1697. He was a son of a director of the French East India Company and joined the Company’s service at Pondicherry in 1720. He was governor-general of the French possessions in India from 1742 to 1754. In 1764, Dupleix died deserted and poverty-stricken in Paris.

• Dupleix had married Jeanne Dupleix, who was a Pondicherry born widow of one of the councilors of the company. She was known in India as Joanna Begum.
• Joanna Begum participated in some of the negotiations with the native rulers.