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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [36r] (71/498)
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.
challenge to take an oath with a placed hand on the Marri ^irdar's head.
In those days, when tribal aristocracy was looked up to, it was felt that
no party in a dispute v/ould dare to stake his claim on such a sacred oath
unless his case was indisputable.
Another recognised and much revered oath v/as that of M r-i.ya.uy - fire
or water. Again, where evidence was inconclusive, one party would accept
the other’s claim if he would take a sheet of paper on which some verses
of the Koran v/ere written, hold it on the palm of his hand and allow a red r
hot plough-share to be dropped on it and walk ten paces with it. If he
did so, his case was taken as proven.
The water oath was in this way. In the Marri country, in a river bed,
w?s a pool some fifteen feet deep. In the centre was erected a pole. One
party in a dispute was challenged to swim out to the pole, climb down it,
pick up a handful of gravel and swim up to the surface. If he held his hand
aloft with the gravel his case was held to be genuine. If he was making
a false claim it was felt that his guilty conscience would prevent him
from holding his breath long enough to perform the act.
Another interesting custom was that to do with tracking a wandering or
stolen animal, or a fleeing criminal. In the Sibi tribal areas there were
a few hereditary trackers - or M suraggis” as they were called. They were
greatly respected and an oath by a ’’suraggi" that he had tracked a stolen
or wandering animal was accepted without quibble. It was also accepted
custom, amongst the Baluchistan tribes, that if the tracks of a lost animal -
or of a raiding party from across the frontier - were traced to the borders
of a tribe’s land that tribe, after assurance that the tracks were genuine,
had to show that the tracks went through their territory to the neighbouring
tribe or accept guilt for the value of the lost animal, or the penalty for
any damage caused by the raiding party.
I have accompanied one of these hereditary trackers and was amazed at
the speed they were rble to follow up tracks, even in stoney river beds
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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- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.