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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [134r] (267/498)
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.
Carries on. Lord Ismay and Eric Mieville there, all most friendly and
easy. Difficul to grasp that this is the end of a Ion,?; era - the handing
over of India. Big dinner of eighty-four to all Politicals. Nancy is
senior lady so sits on 'iceroy's right Used the big ballroom. Strikes
me how ©Id we all look when only a few years ago we looked so young.
Conference again next day on ’’bustle and scuttle”. At lunch was Acharya
Kirpilani, Congress '-resident, and his wife and (in opposite camp) Akbar
Hydari, with his Swedish wife and two daughters.
Fri. 11th April, fly back to Calcutta where I disclose to my Political
Agents and Secretary the outcome of my visit to the Viceroy. I went that
evening to see Sir Fred Burrows, Governor of Bengal, who was confined to bed
with foot troubles.
I talked to Viceroy about my going on leave as I had had none for eight
years, but as he was not going to hand over until next year I could get in
now four months at home and be back well before the hand over. He said that
would be O.K. but added ’’You never know, I may suddenly make up my mind and
hand over at any old time”. So, in this state of affairs, I decide to ta ;e
home leave.
he left Calcutta by train on Sunday, 20th April 194?. h r ith staff seeing
us off, having handed over charge to alter H. all the way alonr the line
at almost every station my State Rulers turned up to bid us goodbye. Even
the twisty, evil-living
Raja
King
of D came to make a fulsome goodbye. At
Jamshedpur station a dozen rulers were there to see us - all rather touching.
There are some good fellows amongst them. They say they have decided to
form a federation under the chairmanship of the
Raja
King
of Korea - he is
certainly the most competent ruler.
Tuesday, 22nd April, We arrive Bombay and almost immediately have to go
on board our ship ! ’Tiie Empress of Scotland”, a Canadian Pacific liner of
26,000 tons converted for trooping. I am in a four-berth cabin with bath-
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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- 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.