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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [169r] (337/498)
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.
Wed. 23rd July, 1954-, caught an early train to Victoria and then to 35
Glebe Place, Chelsea to Lord Salters. Then by his car to Oxford to his college
All Souls - where he is a Fellow. Lovely old, mustard-coloured quadrangle.
There he put on his Fellow^ robes - red and magenta - and Tudor cap and over
to the Sheldonian Theatre where the Chancellor bestowed honorary Masters'
degrees on distinguished visitors - ex-President Auriol of France for one,
and Gladvynn Jebb, Dame Edith Evans, Hindemuth (modern music), Dr. Born,
scientist - all Latin citations, Latin orders and acceptances and Latin
readings by scholars, etc. for over an hour, all very learned and academic.
Then to All Souls quadrangle where we met Lord Halifax and talked of our last
meeting - at Dholpur - in Rajputana. Then lunch at All Souls where I sat
next to Lady Salter - American, of Lord Salter's days when he was Minister
of Shipping and lived much of his time in U.S.A. On my other side I had a
Professor Waldock, an- international lawyer. Then out to the College lawn
where I met Lady Gladwynn Jebb, Nancy Astor, etc. then to Wadham College
for a large garden party. ILooked in to the lovely chapel of All Souls College -
lovely, old yellow sandstone walls with emerald green lawns. Back to Glebe
Place 6.30 p.m. to 8.4-5 - nice cold supper with the Salters. And so to
Victoria and Home after an interesting and enjoyable day.
In July I returned to Baghdad without Nancy as no sense in taking her
out into the blazing summer heat. Temperature was 118° maximaa'bracket
and 79° in my bedroom. Found the flood water had now greatly subsided
and roads out of Baghdad - west, east and south negotiable again, though many
parts badly breached.
Iraqi elections on so everybody running round their constituencies can
vassing for votes.
I am very involved at this time in argument with the Iraq Govt, over the
price of the crude oil we produce on the basis of which their 50/50 share
with the Company is calculated. It is the practice for each oil company -
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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