!['AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [‎180r] (359/498)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002ef/Mss Eur F226_30_0359.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [‎180r] (359/498)")
'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [180r] (359/498)
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.
A clock had been
hold of the Rest House watchman who had been asleep,
taken. I went back to bed. Next day the police arrived to investigate.
The thieves had taken not only a clock, but a suitcase and a second man^
clock.
We went up to Sarsink in the Kurdish hills, where the Iraqi Govt, is
building a holiday camp with the idea of encouraging tourism. They have
a palace for the King and his staff — white walls and raw red roof, rather
out of keeping. A sort of motel of local limestone with some 50/60 double
bedrooms.
•e then drove up to Ahmadiya, an astoundingly situated village on a
narrow tableland thrust out from the mountainside, eighty to a hundred and
twenty yards wide and perhaps a quarter of a mile long. At the end of the
table is an old fort looking down and commanding the valley.
Next day, back to osul, some eighty miles from Sarsink.
Then we were escorted out some fifty miles west of Ainzalah to the tribal
lands of Shaikh Ahmed A1 Ajil, a tribe which joined the British Army when it
pushed the Turk north of Mosul in 1918. It always had a history of
sympathising with the British during the whole of that war in Mesopotamia.
His camp was pitched in some good, unirrigated rain-fed cornfields, just
sho *t of the Syrian frontier. The Shaikh had pitched some large, comfortabl
tents, well furnished, and we enjoyed two pleasant days there, quite a party
of us as we were joined by some men and their wives from the nearby Customs
post of Tel Kochuk. and the railway which crosses into Syria there. The
shaikh s ives did not appear, but he brought over some Arab clothing from
his family and we all dressed up in Arab costumes and had our photo taken,
of which I have a very good copy. The Shaikh fed us very well with huge
trays of mutton and mountains of rice and pilau. A lovely cool night out
there amongst the barley and wheat fields. A very pleasant interlude in a
friendly tribal society. And so back the fifty-three miles to Ainzalah
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [180r] (359/498), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/30, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100096527774.0x0000a0> [accessed 22 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100096527774.0x0000a0
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100096527774.0x0000a0">'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [‎180r] (359/498)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100096527774.0x0000a0"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002ef/Mss Eur F226_30_0359.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002ef/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- 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.