The title of Earl of Cornwall was created several times in the Peerage of England before 1337, when it was superseded by the title Duke of Cornwall, which became attached to heirs-apparent to the throne.
He was the eldest son of Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis (later 1st EarlCornwallis) and was born in London even though his family's estates were in Kent.
Cornwallis, a close political ally of the younger Pitt then moved to India, where the colonial administration was judged by the Prime Minister to be urgently in need of reform following Warren Hastings' tenure.
The primary objective of his first term was the settling of issues related to revenue extraction and local administration, and his administration came to the significant agreement with native landlords known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal.
Cornwallis returned to England on leave, only to find his wife Jemima gravely ill. This distracted him from military affairs for several weeks, but when she died early in 1779 he found that life held little else for him.
Cornwallis was the better field commander, but he had often felt caged and hemmed in by his superior.
Cornwallis did not take such partisan bands seriously at first, but he was rather alarmed to hear that two regiments of the Continental army were on their way south to form the core of new "Southern Department." As summer progressed, this army had swollen to over 3000 regulars and volunteers.
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