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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [57r] (113/498)
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.
[3
- 55 -
struck him a blow on the head which killed him at once. Unfortunately, the
wife, in a twin bed, woke up and screamed and made as if to rush from the
room. The servant said he did not wish to hurt her as she had always
been kind to him, but when she made as if to flee he panicked, fearing she
would summon the police, so struck her down and killed her.
I could not but feel some sympathy for the man but my Parsee Sessions Judge
tried him and could only sentence him to death. The judge was terribly upset
I remember and, rather irregularly, sought ray assurance that he had convicted
correctly. It was a very sad, unpleasant case.
Owing to the many interruptions I was subjected to in this busy city and
cantonment I sometimes found I was getting into arrears with my jirga cases,
so I would take my vernacular clerk and a pile of files and go off to a
dak
System of postal communication used in Moghul India and later by the East India Company.
bungalow some four miles up the Hannah valley, north of Quetta, and slog
all day at the cases.
Nancy always accuses me of slogging too unremittingly at any work I have
to do. I think she must be right for if I have a job to do I am never
happy to linger on it but must bash at it right away. Twice, as you will
hear, in my official career I courted a nervous breakdown by overwork. I
had no breakdown as PA Quetta, but I found four years was quite enough.
It was whilst we were in Quetta that we went through an anxious time. ’e
had left our children, Heather and Lavender, at home with Nancy’s mother
in Blackheath where they went to a day school when Lavender suddenly developed
a pain in the lower abdomen which was eventually diagnosed as appendicitis.
Dr. Neely, our family doctor, was getting a specialist down from London.
By the time the specialist could get down the appendix had burst and
peritonis set in. She was very ill with a draining tube inserted into
the wound. Almost daily cable bulletins were sent out to us. There were
no air passages in those days so Nancy couldn’t reach home in time. Poor
Mrs. Pullen had a terribly responsible time. Nancy has kept her letters
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
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.