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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [168r] (335/498)
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.
- 166 -
to the tomb - a very interesting representation of a tomb closed by a rolling
stone so described in the Gospels. Then we went into the city by the
( >
Damascus Gate, down the Via Dolorosa thraugh the suk - clean, full of produce,
up to the entrance to the recognised ’’Church of the Holy Sepulchre”. There
we found a confused and rather revolting muddle of sectarian claims to parts
of the G<o>Igotha tomb - so unlike the quiet, seemly garden which General Gordon
claimed was more likely to be the real site of the Golgotha Tomb. The area
of the Knights of St. John, the place where Queen Helena, wife of Caesar,
Constantine, claimed to have found a piece of the Crucifixion Cross - the
Catholic - Greek - Russian, Armenian, Abyssinian, Copt - a superstitious,
degrading muddle of claims to ownership of parts of the church - the tawdry
mediaevalisra of it all makes one admire the orderly Lutheran and Islamic
attitude - the Russian gawdy flamboyance - the amateurish representation of
the splitting of the stone and the rending of the veil of the Temple as
darkness fell.
Fareed Imam, a good Muslim, looked on and could hardly conceal his scorn
of the unseemly scramble.
Next day we left for Amman, resisting temptation ingrain to turn off to
look at Jerash. Amman and on to Mafraq for a good lunch at I.P.C. guest
house - and so on to Damascus which, with all its cultivation, trees, etc.
we found cooler than Amman or Jerusalem. Next day by Company plane - Dove -
to Baghdad. No news there since we left - all good Muslims busy with the
month-long fast of Ramadan when they are supposed to eat or drink nothing
between sunrise and sunset, but so many nowadays ignore it. Temperature
now, May 22nd, 195^* maximum 103°, minimum 62°, but our air-conditioning in
the house working well.
Next day fly back to U.K. and on to Oxted where Grannie and Mrs. Evans
A.
in good form. At request of Tonbridge vicar I give a talk on our visit to
Jerusalem to the church congregation, which seemed much appreciated.
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).
- Written in
- 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
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.