CLIVE of Shropshire.

Byline: BY KATE WOLFE

WHEN Shropshire squire and lawyer Richard Clive sent his tearaway son, Robert, off to the tropics from his Styche Hall home local residents must have muttered "good riddance."

The 17 year-old delinquent had been expelled from three schools, including Market Drayton Grammar, and he and his gang had been running a protectionracket with village shopkeepers.

On one famous incident, Robert horrified the town by scaling the spire of Market Drayton Parish Church.

Today, he would doubtless be served with an ASBO.

But back in the early 18th Century, his reckless daring turned him into the conqueror of an entire continent.

The wild child exiled to the tropics as an East India Company clerk became its Commander in Chief, Governor General and, in all but title, Emperor; Clive of India.

An inspired military tactician, he could do no wrong with King and country, particularly after he and just 3,000 troops squared up to the tyrannical Nawab of Bengal's 65,000 army and its elephant charges - and won.

Curiously enough, his Shropshire home, where the wild adventurer drove his lawyer father to despair, still occupied a niche in his heart.

At the age of three, Robert was sent to live with Manchester relatives.

Their spoiling of him was blamed when adolescent Robert returned home to Styche, uncontrolled and uncontrollable.

All the same, after his Indian exploits earned him fame and fortune, one of his first moves was to repair and refurbish his family home. Its upkeep had suffered as his luckless father struggled to support 13 children.

Now, the Grade II Listed Styche Hall and estate has undergone its second restoration.

Specialist developers Alexander Properties have converted it into nine luxurious properties. There are three elegant traditional fourbedroom houses at pounds 445,000, pounds 499,000 and pounds 595,000, and six more contemporary-style twobedroom apartments from pounds 245,000.

They are on the market through joint agents Halls, in Shrewsbury, and Cheshire Lamont's Nantwich office.

Each house has its own lawned gardens. Lakeside House, which also has a walled garden, and two of the apartments, overlook the lake. All the properties share extensive communal grounds.

The houses' period features, such as 8ft egg and dart coved ceilings, were worthy of their Architectural Heritage listing, even without their colourful background as the Clive family home.

Clive returned to Styche for brief periods, becoming MP for Salop, then Mayor, then Baron Plassey, before returning to India in 1765 to tackle rampant corruption.

Ten years later, he died, aged just 49, in his London home in Berkeley Square.

A manic-depressive for much of his life it was thought he committed suicide after being accused of financial irregularities.

His family never admitted as much, which allowed his burial within Moreton Say churchyard. Tellingly, his grave has remained unmarked, to this day.

CAPTION(S):

STYLISH: the refurbished rooms of Stych Hall have been completed in a modern style and have contemporary fixings