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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [91r] (181/498)
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.
said that when they had had to abandon the torpedoed "Benares”, they were in
the boats for twenty hours up to their middle in water. Next day twenty two
in the boat, died of exposure. He was bitterly critical of the way the convoy
had been made to accommodate themselves to the slowest ship in the convoy.
When they had sailed far enough north-west from the Scottish coast, they should
have been allowed to push on at full speed. The "Benares" was a new and
speedy vessel and could easily have outpaced any ^ boat attempting to follow
and torpedo them.
Our convoy proceeded north-westwards towards Newfoundland. There were
several air-raid warnings and one of our escort destroyers was seen to be
firing at something - either a German bomber or dropping depth charges at
threatening pursuing , U t boats.
Then we ran into very heavy gales and our little s.s."Exeter" took a severe
buffeting. However, it was so rough that the German t U’ boats would find it
difficult to get in a torpedo at us. The bad weather had scattered our convoy
and by the next morning we found ourselves alone on an empty sea. VVe were
ordered to turn south and make for Freetown in Sierra Leone. Sailing south
we soon ran into warm, humid air. The black-out at night still persisted
as it was feared the lights might attract a marauding f U , boat, as they were
now opersting far west in the Atlantic.
However, all v/ent well and on Monday, 11th November - Armistice Day - we
arrived at Freetown, a small port lying at the foot of a group of jungle-clad
hills, in a large, open roadstead, with some sixty or seventy other ships
berthed there. The Captain had hoped to pick up water there, but there was
none available, so we were rationed for water for the journey down to Cape
Town. There was no water in the cabins or in the bathroom basins.
We were now able to get the B.B.C. radio news. Heard of one of our convoys
of ships in the North Sea. The Germans were claiming that their seaplane
attack had sunk many ships of this convoy, but the B.B.C. declared that only
two had been damaged and three German seaplanes destroyed. News also came
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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