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Hastings - 19 reference results
Sibley, Henry Hastings, 1811-91, first governor of Minnesota, b. Detroit. After two years of law study, he was (1830-34) a clerk for the American Fur Company. He later became (1834) a partner and engaged in trading in the Wisconsin and Dakota territories. He was (1848) delegate to Congress from Wisconsin Territory and promoted (1849) the organization of Minnesota Territory. He was then its territorial delegate, and when it became (1858) a state, Sibley was (1858-60) its first governor. He commanded expeditions against the Sioux after the massacre of Minnesota settlers in 1862.
Ismay, Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron, 1887-1965, British general, known as "Pug" Ismay. He served in India and, during World War I, in Africa. During World War II he held simultaneously the posts of chief of staff to Winston Churchill and deputy secretary to the war cabinet. In 1946 he retired from the army and received a peerage. In 1951 he was appointed secretary of state for commonwealth relations. He resigned the following year to become secretary-general to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, remaining in that post until 1957.

See his memoirs (1960, repr. 1974).

Huntingdon, Selina Hastings, countess of, 1707-91, English religious leader, patron of the Calvinistic Methodists. She was closely associated with the Wesleys and George Whitefield. When they split, she took the side of Whitefield, whom she made one of her chaplains. Largely responsible for introducing Methodism to the upper classes, she established chapels in Bath and other centers of fashion and appointed chaplains to take charge of them. In 1768 she founded a seminary for the training of ministers at Trevecca House in Wales. Later it was removed to Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. Those associated with her establishments and under her moral control were known as "Lady Huntingdon's Connexion." Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Ala., is named for her.

See S. Tytler, The Countess of Huntingdon and Her Circle (1907).

Huntingdon, Henry Hastings, 3d earl of, 1535-95, English nobleman. Through his mother, Catherine Pole, a great granddaughter of the duke of Clarence (brother of Edward IV and Richard III), Hastings claimed the right to succeed Elizabeth I to the English throne. He received some support from the Protestant party. Hastings was custodian of the rival claimant, Mary Queen of Scots, for a brief period in 1569. In 1572 he was president of the council of the north.

See biography by C. Cross (1966).

Hastings, Warren, 1732-1818, first governor-general of British India. Employed (1750) as a clerk by the East India Company, he soon became manager of a trading post in Bengal. When Calcutta (now Kolkata) was captured (1756) by Siraj-ud-Daula, Hastings was taken prisoner but soon released. After the British recapture (1757) of the city, he was made British resident at Murshidabad. Good service there brought appointment to the Calcutta council (1761), but he returned to England (1764) disgusted with administrative corruption in Bengal.

Hastings went back (1769) to India as a member of the Madras council and became (1772) governor of Bengal, immediately embarking on a course of judicial and financial reform, law codification, and the suppression of banditry, measures that laid the foundation of direct British rule in India. In 1774, he was appointed governor-general of India. This position was created by Lord North's Regulating Act (1773), which also set up a four-member governing council. In the succeeding years Hastings was greatly hampered by opposition in the council, especially from Sir Philip Francis. Another problem he encountered in his new position was the ill-defined relationship with and resulting lack of control over the subordinate provincial governors. The interference of the Bombay government in Maratha affairs led to a war with the Marathas, while the blunders of the Madras government provoked conflict with Haidar Ali of Mysore. In both cases Hastings, conscious of the danger of French intervention, dispatched armies from Bengal that saved the British position. Nonetheless he was criticized for interference with the provincial governments.

Hastings resigned (1784) and returned to England, where he was charged with high crimes and misdemeanors by Edmund Burke and Sir Philip Francis, whom he had wounded in a duel in India. The chief charges against him concerned his extortion of money from the rajah of Benares and the begum of Oudh, his hiring out of British troops to the nawab of Oudh to subdue the Rohillas (a warlike Afghan tribe), and his alleged responsibility for the judicial murder of an Indian merchant, Nandkumar. He was impeached in 1787; but the trial, begun in 1788, ended with acquittal in 1795, despite the bitter prosecution of Burke, Francis, Richard B. Sheridan, and Charles James Fox. Hastings's fortune was spent in the defense, but the East India Company contributed to his later support. He became popular and was made a privy councilor (1814).

See biographies by A. M. Davies (1935), K. G. Feiling (1955, repr. 1967), and J. Bernstein (2000); studies by P. Moon (1947, repr. 1962) and P. J. Marshall (1965).

Hastings, Thomas, 1784-1872, American composer, b. Washington, Conn. Of his hymns, Rock of Ages is most famous. He compiled several books of hymns, including Musica Sacra (1815) and Spiritual Songs (with Lowell Mason, 1831).
Hastings, Thomas, 1860-1929, American architect, b. New York City, grad. École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He worked in the office of McKim, Mead, and White, New York City, and in 1886 commenced practice in partnership with John M. Carrère. The New York Public Library is their best-known work. Hastings's designs after the death of Carrère (1911) include the memorial amphitheater in the National Cemetery at Arlington, Va.
Hastings, Serranus Clinton, 1814-93, American judge, b. Jefferson co., N.Y. He was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1836 and moved to Iowa soon afterward. He served in the first Iowa territorial legislature and in 1846 became the first representative of Iowa in Congress. In 1849 he moved to California and became chief justice of the state supreme court while the fusion of common law and Spanish custom was being effected. He established and endowed Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, now part of the Univ. of California.
Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st marquess of, 1754-1826, British soldier and administrator. He fought with distinction against the colonists in the American Revolution. Created (1783) Baron Rawdon and then succeeding (1793) his father as earl of Moira, he played an active role in the House of Lords and was a partisan of the prince of Wales (later George IV). As governor-general of Bengal (1813-22), he successfully waged war on the Gurkhas of Nepal (1814-16), the marauding Pindaris, and the Marathas, meanwhile maintaining a vigorous and progressive government. He was rewarded (1817) for his services with the title marquess of Hastings. He was governor of Malta when he died.
Hastings, city (1991 pop. 74,979) and district, East Sussex, SE England. A resort and residential city, Hastings is backed by cliffs and has a 3-mi (4.8-km) marine esplanade, parks, and bathing beaches. The site was occupied in Roman times. It was made famous by the battle of Hastings, which took place at nearby Battle on Oct. 14, 1066, between the Normans under William, duke of Normandy (later William I), and the Anglo-Saxons under Harold. The battle, one of the most celebrated in English history, was won by William's force after a single day's fighting. This was the first and most decisive victory of the Norman Conquest of England. Hastings became one of the Cinque Ports.
Hastings, city (1996 pop. 58,495), SE North Island, New Zealand, close to Napier. It has extensive food-processing industries, including meatpacking, canning, and dairy processing.
Hastings. 1 City (1990 pop. 15,445), seat of Dakota co., SE Minn., on the Vermillion River and on bluffs above the Mississippi opposite its confluence with the St. Croix; inc. 1857. It is a farm trade and manufacturing center, producing flour, computer equipment, fertilizers, and feeds. 2 City (1990 pop. 22,837), seat of Adams co., S central Nebr.; inc. 1874. It is a rail center in a farming area. Manufactures include processed foods and construction materials. A museum is in the city.
Banda, Hastings Kamuzu, 1902?-97, African political leader, president of Malawi (1966-94). A son of peasants, he received a medical degree in the United States and after World War II established a practice in London, where his office became a meeting place for exiled African leaders. He returned to Africa (1953), then to his homeland, Nyasaland (1958), to campaign against the federation of Nyasaland with Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia). In 1961 Banda's Malawi Congress party won a sweeping election victory. Nyasaland, which he led as prime minister, became independent as Malawi in 1964. Under a new constitution, Banda became president in 1966. Increasingly autocratic, he made himself president for life in 1971, the year he became the first African leader to visit South Africa. Opponents were routinely jailed and some killed, while Banda lived in luxury. Following antigovernment rioting and suspension of Western aid in 1992, Banda was forced to abandon one-party rule and the life presidency in 1993. In democratic elections held in 1994, he was defeated by Bakili Muluzi. In 1995 Banda was acquitted of charges in the 1983 assassination of four political opponents.

See biographies by P. Short (1974) and T. D. Williams (1978).

Warren Hastings, oil painting by Tilly Kettle; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

(born Dec. 6, 1732, Churchill, near Daylesford, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died Aug. 22, 1818, Daylesford) British colonial administrator in India. He worked for the English East India Company from 1750, rising to membership in its council in Bengal (1761–64) and Madras (now Chennai; 1769). As governor of Bengal (1772–74), he moved the central government to Calcutta (now Kolkata) under direct British control and remodeled the justice system. In 1774 he acquired the new h1 of governor-general, with responsibilities for supervising other British settlements in India. His powers were shared with a council of four, several of whom tried to blame Hastings for the continuing abuses of power by Englishmen. From 1777 to 1783 he sought to counter the instability created by the fall of the Mughal Empire and tried to maintain peaceful relations with neighbouring states but was drawn into the Maratha Wars. This disrupted the company's trade and antagonized opinion in England, as did several dubious ventures Hastings entered into to raise extra funds. In 1785 he left India at peace and retired to England. In 1786 Edmund Burke introduced an impeachment process against him on charges of corruption; after a trial that lasted from 1788 to 1795, Hastings was acquitted.

Learn more about Hastings, Warren with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Warren Hastings, oil painting by Tilly Kettle; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

(born Dec. 6, 1732, Churchill, near Daylesford, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died Aug. 22, 1818, Daylesford) British colonial administrator in India. He worked for the English East India Company from 1750, rising to membership in its council in Bengal (1761–64) and Madras (now Chennai; 1769). As governor of Bengal (1772–74), he moved the central government to Calcutta (now Kolkata) under direct British control and remodeled the justice system. In 1774 he acquired the new h1 of governor-general, with responsibilities for supervising other British settlements in India. His powers were shared with a council of four, several of whom tried to blame Hastings for the continuing abuses of power by Englishmen. From 1777 to 1783 he sought to counter the instability created by the fall of the Mughal Empire and tried to maintain peaceful relations with neighbouring states but was drawn into the Maratha Wars. This disrupted the company's trade and antagonized opinion in England, as did several dubious ventures Hastings entered into to raise extra funds. In 1785 he left India at peace and retired to England. In 1786 Edmund Burke introduced an impeachment process against him on charges of corruption; after a trial that lasted from 1788 to 1795, Hastings was acquitted.

Learn more about Hastings, Warren with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born circa 1898, near Kasungu [Malawi]—died Nov. 25, 1997, Johannesburg, S.Af.) First president of Malawi (1963–94). Educated as a physician in the U.S., Banda moved to Scotland and practiced medicine there. He became involved in politics when white settlers demanded the federation of Nyasaland (later Malawi) and the Rhodesias in 1949. In the 1950s he toured the country making antifederation speeches, for which he was imprisoned by British colonial officials. In 1963, when the federation was dissolved, he became prime minister. He concentrated on building his country's infrastructure and increasing agricultural productivity. Declared president for life in 1971, his rule became increasingly autocratic and austere. He was voted out of office in 1994.

Learn more about Banda, Hastings (Kamuzu) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born circa 1898, near Kasungu [Malawi]—died Nov. 25, 1997, Johannesburg, S.Af.) First president of Malawi (1963–94). Educated as a physician in the U.S., Banda moved to Scotland and practiced medicine there. He became involved in politics when white settlers demanded the federation of Nyasaland (later Malawi) and the Rhodesias in 1949. In the 1950s he toured the country making antifederation speeches, for which he was imprisoned by British colonial officials. In 1963, when the federation was dissolved, he became prime minister. He concentrated on building his country's infrastructure and increasing agricultural productivity. Declared president for life in 1971, his rule became increasingly autocratic and austere. He was voted out of office in 1994.

Learn more about Banda, Hastings (Kamuzu) with a free trial on Britannica.com.


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