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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [42r] (83/498)
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.
p here was a very mischievous one-eyed
Sirdar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
of the neighbouring tribe — the
Musianis - who took delight in stirring up
Sirdar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Rasul Bakhsh, Zarakzai
to cause trouble.
Kalat was a sort of confederation of tribes and the titular head of the
confederation of Kalat was the Khan of Kalat who lived in a tumbledown but
picturesque fort at Kalat town. Although the federal tribes looked up to
him as their head, he wielded little authority and in my time he was an old
man with a craze for collecting walking-sticks, tho 1 he rarely emerged from
his fart. A wicked uncle was always interfering in State affairs and
eventually nad to be banished from the State and made to live a pensioner
in Quetta. You would see him riding around Quetta streets, a fine figure
of a man, on a beautiful Hirzai Baluch pony - such a different figure fram
the rather decrepit Khan, his nephew.
Whilst I was APA Kalat I was Sessions Judge of the administered Bolan
Area.
XXVII. HOMS LEAVE - BLACKHEATH.
In 1926 I took Horae Leave when we made our headquarters with N*s parents,
o*
Col. and Mrs. Pullen, 45 Le# Road, Blackheath.
&
It was while I was APA Kalat that Lavender was born in 192|. e went
in to Kalat House, Quetta, and Dr. Miss Stewart of the C.M.S. De£*na (Ladies)
Hospital, attended N for lavender’s birth. Dr. Henry Holland, the cele
brated eye specialist was then running the C.M.S. hospital in Quetta. He
was a marvellous character very fine Christian, with a squeaky voice which
he said was due to the fact that they kept him in the boys’ choir after his
voice was broken. He was a keen Mason and he and Terence Keyes encouraged
me to become a ason, rather to N’s disgust who didn’t like the secrecy of
it, which ruled her out.
She never reconciled herself to it so I rather
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.