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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [21r] (41/498)
The record is made up of 1 file (247 folios). It was created in 1976-1978. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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deal with tne Kachins. The Mandalay Military Police were ordered "to send
an armed force north to ;OGAUNG to drive back the Kachins. I was fortunate
enough to be included as second-in-coramand in that force.
Our sudden appearance in Mogaung considerably surprised the marauding
Kachins and they very quickly withdrew into their jungle clad hills# It
was decided, however, that they should be followed up and taught a lesson
v/hich would deter them from again endeavouring to recover or molest their
one-time Shan slaves.
It was a very difficult operation. Our column of pursuing Military Police
hso. to push forward in single file with thick, almost impenetrable jungle on
each side. The Kachin enemy, however, were accustomed to the thick jungle
and so were prone to creep up on our flanks and at a ran 3 ;e of only a few
yards pick off our men one by one*
The Kachins were mostly armed with old, home-made muskets loaded with
chunks of telegraph wire stolen from our telegraph lines along the rail
ways. They were capable of inflicting ghastly wounds. An Indian Sub
assistant Surgeon whom v/e had with us was just in front of me as we
cautiously advanced When he received a chunk of metal in his stomach
which almost disembowelled him. W e got him back, still alive, t© the base,
but he died shortly afterwards. We suffered several such catastrophes and
it soon became apparent that we should never get the Kachins to face up to
us and fight. Each night we had to camp in a thorn-protected zariba with
guards posted on each side of our square. We had Chinese muleteers for
our transport. These muleteers used to come over into Burma from across
the Chinese frontier to our east, looking for work during the dry winter
months and had gladly hired themselves to us for the expedition. The
trouble with them was that when we had settled down in camp for the night's
halt, they used to sneak out and try to find a Kachin village from where
they could buy or steal grain for themselves and their mules. The Kachins
shot them and badly wounded two of them but even this did not deter them
for long.
It was most interesting the cheerful, fatalistic attitude of these Chinese
It struck us then what a dour struggle we would have if it ever came to war
with the Chinese.
About this item
- Content
Memoirs of Sir Herbert Todd (1893-1985) of the Indian Political Service The branch of the British Government of India with responsibility for managing political relations between British-ruled India and its surrounding states, and by extension the Gulf, during the period 1937-47. , later of the Iraq Petroleum Company. Written during the years 1976-78, the memoirs begin by recounting Todd's childhood on his family's farm in Kent, his education and entrance into the Home Civil Service in 1912, and his entrance into the Indian Political Service The branch of the British Government of India with responsibility for managing political relations between British-ruled India and its surrounding states, and by extension the Gulf, during the period 1937-47. in 1913. Roughly half of the memoirs (ff 10-137) covers Todd's career up to 1947, which can be summarised as follows:
- Posted to the Indian Police, Burma [Myanmar], 1913-17 (ff 10-22)
- Served in the 11th Bengal Lancers (Probyn's Horse), Indian Army, in Mesopotamia [Iraq], 1917-19 (ff 22-24)
- Remained in Baghdad as Assistant Commissioner of Police, Baghdad East Subdivision, 1919-20 (ff 25-31)
- Transferred to Indian Political Service The branch of the British Government of India with responsibility for managing political relations between British-ruled India and its surrounding states, and by extension the Gulf, during the period 1937-47. , holding positions in Baluchistan, 1921; Gilgit, 1927; Quetta, 1931; Bharatpur, 1936-39 (ff 31-67)
- Served in the Home Guard during extended leave (1939-40), first in Canfield, Essex, and later in Blackheath, London (ff 68-72), followed by a spell as an air warden while awaiting re-posting to India (ff 72-78)
- First attempt at passage to India abandoned when the ship he was travelling on, SS Simla , was torpedoed, September 1940 (ff 79-88)
- Returned to India, holding positions at Udaipur, 1940 (ff 93-97); Baluchistan, 1941 (ff 97-101); Cochin [Kochi] and Travancore, 1943 (ff 101-111); and Calcutta [Kolkata] and the Eastern States, 1944-47 (ff 111-134)
- Returned to London on leave, April 1947; career brought to an abrupt end in June 1947 with the announcement of the handing over of power and Indian independence (ff 135-137).
The last hundred or so folios relate to Todd's employment in the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), 1948-59 (ff 138-227), and his subsequent retirement in Oxted, Surrey, 1959-78 (ff 227-248). As Chief Representative of the IPC, Todd and his wife spent much of their time in Baghdad. The memoirs document Todd's relations with prominent Iraqi politicians, diplomats, and visiting British MPs, as well as Todd's visits to Beirut, Damascus, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Persia [Iran] and the United States. Also included are Todd's thoughts on the Suez Crisis and the 1958 revolution in Iraq (Todd was holidaying in Austria at the time and never returned to Baghdad).
Aside from his career, Todd writes about his hobbies (polo and hunting) and comments on UK and world events, such as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the death of Winston Churchill, and the first moon landing in July 1969; he also mentions in passing meeting Professor Max Mallowan and Agatha Christie at the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud (Iraq) in April 1955.
The text is typewritten with annotations and crossings out in pencil and ink. It includes some offensive terms and language in its descriptions of members of colonised populations.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (247 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 249; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The file also contains an original printed foliation sequence. It should be noted that number 13 in the original foliation sequence is missing (in between folios 14 and 15).
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F226/30
- Title
- 'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977'
- Pages
- 2r:248v
- Author
- Todd, Sir Herbert John
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