Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, KG, PC was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and the United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading British general officers in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined American and French force at the siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America. Cornwallis later served as a civil and military governor in Ireland, where he helped bring about the Act of Union; and in India, where he helped enact the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement.

31 December 1738

Born on the same birth day (31 December): Alexander Smith (poet) • Billy Snedden • Brent Barry • Craig Gordon • Danny Holla • Jaime Escalante • Joe Abercrombie • Lionel Daunais • Pierre-Charles Villeneuve • Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein • Raphie Kaplinsky • Tess Jaray

Born in the same month (December 1738): Jan Antonín Koželuh • Richard Montgomery