This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Visit the Royal Collection

The Seven Years War (1756-63)

Manuscript and printed maps and views, correspondence and journals from the first global war

      ? JOHN CLEEVE PLEYDELL (1736-1816)

      Pencil, pen, ink and watercolour on paper | Scale: not stated. 1:1,500 approx. | RCIN 732125

      A plan of the action at Wandiwash, 28-30 September 1759. Seven Years War (1756-63). Oriented with north to top (cardinal points).

      The commanding officer of the British forces was Colonel Eyre Coote (1726-83).

      The attribution to Pleydell is made on stylistic grounds. This is one of fourteen manuscript plans in the collection by Pleydell of fortifications and/or actions during the Third Carnatic War (1757-63), which was part of the Seven Years War. They were all placed, in Cumberland's original collection, in Volume IV/70/1-14. Their current RCIN numbers are 732126, 733001-8, 733016.a, 733020, 733027, 733028. It is not known when they were drawn but it must have been sometime before Cumberland's death in 1765. The source material for this set of plans is unknown; there is no evidence to suggest that Pleydell ever went to India.

      Insets: [bottom right, a small profile of the wall and moat.] Scale: 1:2,032 approx. Scale bar: [27 mm =] 60 y.s Size: 4.4 x 6.7 cm (neatline).

      Condition: no fold lines; small tear to top edge. Verso: brown discolouration; induced discolouration.

      • ? John Cleeve Pleydell (1736-1816) (draughtsman)

      • Watermark: Fleur-de-lys in crowned shield, a ‘4’ suspending the letters L V G below; countermark: IV

        Mark, stamped: 895

        Condition: no fold lines; small tear to top edge. Verso: brown discolouration; induced discolouration

      • Scale: not stated. 1:1,500 approx.

        31.0 x 29.3 cm (neatline)

        31.0 x 45.7 cm (image)

        35.7 x 48.5 cm (sheet)

      • Manuscript title:

        Wandewash, Surrender’d Nov:r 30.th, 1759. [bottom centre, outside border]

        Insets:

        [bottom right, a small profile of the wall and moat.] Scale: 1:2,032 approx. Scale bar: [27 mm =] 60 y.s Size: 4.4 x 6.7 cm (neatline).

        Annotations:

        George III heading: Wandewash 28-30 Nov. 1759.

        Other annotations: (Recto) [bottom right, ink:] IV/70/N:o1; [along left edge, black pencil, erased and partly legible:] Wandewash [?] Nov. 1759. (Verso) [along right edge, black pencil, erased and now partly illegible, one word clearly visible:] Villemore.

        George III catalogue entry:

        Wandewash A drawn Plan of Wandewash attacked by the English Army inder the command of Colonel Coote the 28.th and taken the 30.th of Nov.r 1759.

      • Subject(s)

        Vandavāsi, Tamil Nādu, India (12°30'15"N 79°36'20"E)

      PreviousNext

      Page revisions

      • 4 June 2025

        Current version

      PreviousNext