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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [142r] (283/498)
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.
- 140 -
Victoria and then by bus or underground to Oxford Circus where the I.P.C.
office was located. I felt with ray age - fifty-five years - and seniority
I need not get to the office at 9 a.m. and 1 usually left early, around 5 p.ni.
Luckily I found a good gardener - Ambrose - and between us we soon began
to get the garden into some order - the lawns and flower-beds to the east and the
vegetable garden and orchard to the west. Then I als^a got an old, lame man -
Price - who came on Tuesdays and was quite useful until old age constrained
him to stop work.
At this time, in 1948 nd 1949, I spent a lot of time visiting engineering
works, factories, colleges, arranging training for both Iraqis and some of
our English staff. I also visited universities - Cambridge, Glasgow,
Edinburgh, and talked to students on prospects in <o>il companies in the Middle
East and on Industrial Relations within a company and also on the different
paternalistic approach to native labour in the M•E.
I took a great interest in the Industrial elfare Society of whicn the
chairman was Sir Robert Hyde, and the secretary was John Harsh. I persuaded
them of the need - and duty, -s an Industrial Welfare Society - to arrange
a special fortnight’s course in July 1949 aimed at companies operating over
seas. 1 attended the course throughout and met some very interesting people
connected with labour politics, including Victor Feather of the Trades Union
Council - l^ter Lord Feather - a man of the shop-floor with sound practical
ideas. Through him I met several Trades Union personalities and was very
impressed by their • ide, human view of industrial relations. Sir Robert
Hyde often addressed us and was very impressive. My son-in-1 w, Bill
Maclachlan, of the Burmah Oil Company, also attended the course with me.
J.S. retires as Managing Director of Iraq Petroleum Company an«( is succeeded
by Steve G. from Anglo Iranian Oil Coy. with whom, and his dear wife, Haji,
we became firm friends for years until his sad death from cancer, followed
a few months later by Haji. She was called ”Haji” because she dressed up
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.