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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [26r] (51/498)
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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
- 24 - -
tv/o were Christian and one Moslem. We soon had Baghdad under very firm
control, though it must be said that the populace was very well behaved
and gave no trcauble. During the Turkish occupation the Turkish police
force had been very strict although their jurisdiction was confined almost
entirely to the towns and they had little control of the tribes.
I was then requested by Prescott to set up a C.I.D. and ’Political
Intelligence Department 1 to bring in information from the tribes and villages.
It was in this capacity that I came across Miss Gertrude Bell, who was
adviser to the Chief Commissioner on tribal affairs. She was a remarkable
woman, having travelled^on her own throughout Arabia and had a vast knowledge
\ L
of the tribal ^^sfes^and their various intrigues. I soon formed the opinion
that she was inclined to think that all her geese were swans and I found my
self in opposition to her over her opinions of the SHIA Moslem tribes of the
Euphrates. I had information that the Young Turks under the celebrated
Mustapha Kamal
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
were sending down agitators to these Euphrates Shias
encouraging them to stir up trouble against our administration. Sure
enough, when the tribes rose in rebellion against us in 1920 it was on the
Euphrates that the trouble first erupted.
However, the 1920 rebellion was to come later. Meanwhile we were con
solidating our civil administration throughout the occupied territories and,
as I mentioned before, the November 11th ’ceasefire* was not heard until vie
had occupied Mosul, and a very useful occupation that was, as it rounded
off our occupation of Mespot.
In Baghdad we readily found recruits for our civil police force.
Particularly forthcoming were the remnants of the old Turkish forces and
very easily .rained and disciplined they were. I used a couple of our British
NCOs to raise a troop of Mounted Police who proved very useful on patrols of
the area immediately around Baghdad and particularly at the revered Shia
centre at KADHIMAIN some two miles north of Baghdad City. Incidentally,
in Turkish times a venturesome commercial company had laid down tram lines
from Baghdad to Kadhimain along which horse-drawn trams were pulled to
carry the Shia Moslem pilgrims who came to worship at the holy shrine.
I set up a fingerprint bureau and got over from India a Parsee fingerprint
expert. In time we built up quite a library of fingerprints of rogues.
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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- 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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- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.