SAINT DAVID, FORT

British stronghold near the town of Cuddalore, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Madras on the southeastern coast of India. The fort was sold by the Marathas to the English East India Company in 1690. It was named for the patron saint of Wales because the governor of Madras at the time, Elihu Yale, was Welsh. It was purchased because of increasing political instability in southern India, which made a second fortified trading station (besides that in Madras) desirable. In the 18th century the fort became a second centre of British power in southern India. In 174748, aided by the presence of a British fleet, it withstood a French attack after the fall of Madras. In 1758 it was taken by the French but was abandoned when the French city of Pondicherry was attacked by the British. It was taken again by the French in 1782 but was restored to the British in 1785, and, with the end of the French threat, it was abandoned and fell into ruins.