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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [28r] (55/498)
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.
awaiting results, suddenly there v/as a hubbub down below in the courtyard
and Salman came, smiling broadly, into my office, "We’ve got him" he said
exultingly, "and he’s down below", I asked him how it had happened. "Well",
said Salman, "I took Faris Effendi to this side of the bridge and pointed out
the man, some distance away, across the width of the Tigris river, but Faris,
as usual, wasn’t very bright and was not very sure that he could identify
the man, so I decided that he was of no use. I took him with me and walked
across into the coffee shop and arrested the spy". It was a very brave act
by this Jewish Inspector Salman but I feared that it v/ould mean that he would
be very suspect by the underground agitators.
It was not many weeks later that a panic-stricken Arab constable burst
into my office to say: "They have shot Salman Effendi". With a sinking
feeling in my heart, I followed him out on to the main street and down a lane
which led to the Jewish quarter. There I found poor, courageous Salman
lying on the ground with a bullet through his head. The tragedy cast gloom
over the whole police force for, Jew though he was, Salman was greatly
respected and admired by all, not only in the Police, but throughout the
civil administration in Baghdad. Prewar Baghdad was looked upon as a very
Jewish city, and the member for the Turkish Parliament representing Baghdad
was a much respected Jew of the well-known commercial family of Sassoon.
XV, MARRIAGE.
Affairs began to quieten down in 1919 and a number of British officials
were able to get their wives to come out and join them. I became engaged
about this time whilst on a period of leave, during which I went to Burma.
As I could not get away for long from my C.I.D. in Baghdad, and as my
fiancee’s father, a Gunner Colonel in Rangoon, was retiring and returning
with his family to the U. K. we decided that my fiancee should come over to
Baghdad where we could get married. She left her parents in Bombay as
they were sailing home and came over to Basra where I flew down and met her.
A Cavalry Colonel who had transferred to the RFC offered to fly me down to
Basra as he and a squadron were flying down that way to bomb a recalcitrant
tribe on the Euphrates. So on the flight down we flew over the disturbed
area and dropped a few bombs. The bomb dropping was rather amusing. I
sat in the hind seat and as we flew over the tribal village my pilot raised
his hand and as he manoeuvred the plane into position he dropped his hand
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).
- Written in
- 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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- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.