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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [77r] (153/498)
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.
fe)
- 75 -
Churchill warned the country to face up to the fact that Hitler was
preparing to invade all along the continental coast from Norway to Spain.
I was trying daily to get through to Thos. Cooks to ascertain if the sailing
date of our vessel, the "City of Simla”, had yet been fixed, but more often
than not the lines were down. I noted in my daily diary "Friday 13th Sept,
may the date bring us luck if we have to start on our journey today. No gas,
no baths, no trains, no telephone. Tried to get on to Cooks from a public
telephone box, but air-raid warning sounded and removed all chances of
getting through. Air-raid warning at 7.30 a.m.and again at 9.4p a.m.
e have been having wonderful, bright, dry weather, but tnis morning fitful
rain with low clouds. Our A.A. barrage died down, obviously due to bad
visibility. But some German planes came in low - probably reconnaisance -
unexploded bomb fell down the road from our flat, and another on the London
railway line, just below No. 7 The Glebe. Our number was 10, The Glebe.
At last I managed to get through on the T phone to Cooks, only to be answered
by a watchman who said all the staff were down below in the shelter and, in
any case, the staff left the office at 3.30 to get home before dark and the
usual evening bombing. Then, at last. Cooks got through on the 'phone to
say our sailing had been postponed until Thursday, 19th Sept, at the earliest.
Nancy and I motored up to India House in Aldwych to see about cuur bookings,
not only for us two, but for our two daughters. We counted twenty-four
bomb hits, particularly numerous along the Old Kent Road and New Cross. One
long tenement building was badly hit and gutted, but a Union Jack was flying
from a window* Wonderful spirit being shown by everyone. We walked over
the Heath to see a large bomb crater in a friend's garden. The whole Heath
was scattered with small soda-water bottle sized incendiaries, some burnt
out and some still alive.
The bombing of London was now intensified and there was much talk of
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.