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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [154r] (307/498)
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.
- 152 -
neat, red-tiled houses.
Then on by Company ’Dove 1 with all our kit to Baghdad - interesting flight
from typically Mediterranean Lebanan out across vast, flat, barren plains
of Iraq, over Palmyra, and along I.P.C, pipeline with its pumping stations
every fifty miles or so, little, well-built, bungalows and flourishing
gardens of the small stations' staff.
At Baghdad we were met by the I.P.C. staff, some six of them. We took
over a red-bricked, two storey flat-roofed house with nice back garden on
the riverside road. Adequate for our purposes and near the Baghdad office
of the Manager - John Page - whom I shall replace, but extend my parish over
all the I.P.C. operations in Iraq, e.g. Basra, Baghdad, Kirkuk and Ainzalah,
the oilfield north of Kirkuk, which pipes its oil south to link in with
the Kirkuk-Banias-Tripoli line.
We go over to the west bank to see the plot on which the Company is to
build our house - very attractive site by the Tigris river in a date grove.
Visit King's office to sign book, then to British Embassy to meet
ambassador, Sir Jo>hn Troutbeck, a very nice man, with whom I am to have a
very congenial relationship. He kindly arranged a cocktail party of Iraqi
senior ministers, especially Dr. Nadhim Pachachi, the Minister of Economics,
with whom I should have particularly close relationship.
On Monday, 17th Nov. 1952, we took up to Kirkuk, in a specially hired
Viking, a number of senior officials, Iraqi, English, American and French
for the official opening of the new pipeline by the King of Iraq, accompanied
by his staff and Iraqi Govt, officials. The company guest house, which is
quite commodious, was handed over to the King and his staff. Nancy and I
were allotted to stay with a Mr. Simraonds of the I.P.C. staff, and the
Chairman, Sir John Cunningham, the M.D. Mr. Gibson, and the Group members
and Alternate Directors were put up by Mr. and Mrs. Mainland, the General
Manager of Kirkuk, and by other Kirkuk staff. Tuesday, the 18th was the
About this item
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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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