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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [209r] (417/498)
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.
- 20 ? -
found it rather an ordinary commercial hotel but adequate. Later that
evening Mr. R. ’phoned to say news from Iraq was that the Crown Prince and
Prime Minister, Nuri
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
, had both been murdered and the King was in the
hands of the rebels, but the position was very unclear as the Baghdad radio
station was in the hands of the rebels. It all sounded so wildly unreal
to us who only such a short time ago were in a peaceful, orderly Baghdad.
I went over to the British Embassy in Vienna, but they had little to add,
though they had their ears glued to the radio. Selwyn Lloyd had made a
statement in the Commons to the effect that the situation was unclear.
Michael Wright, the British Ambassador, Baghdad, had been allowed to send a
radio message that he and his staff were safe.
I ’phoned Mr. Herridge in London from the Embassy. He was relieved to
hear we were safe, but there was no question of my returning to Baghdad, as
I wished to do, nor was there any object in my going to London. Mr, H.
thought I should continue with my holiday in Austria, keeping in touch with
London in case of any develolments. Further news from Baghdad bad - British
Embassy sacked and burnt, Col. Graham, Military Attache, reported killed,
but Ambassador V/right safe in an hotel. How wildly unreal it all seems.
Next day we hired a car and drove via the romantic ’’Vienna Woods”, past
old castles, of Liechtenstein on a forested hill, built in 1165, ancestral
seat of rulers of the small principality, Holdrochamuble where Schubert
composed ’’Under the Linden Tree”, but Russian vandalism had destroyed any
thing of culture during their wartime occupation of this part of Austria.
Past Mayerling, the hunting lodge, where Archduke Rudolph committed suicide
with his mistress, Baroness Marie Vetura. We went for a long drive through
some fascinating romantic villages in forest glades - to Baden, another
hot spring Baden with many bathers in the hot, sulphur pool,
After dinner we walked up the Hauptstrasse to see the Karlplats church
most effectively floodlit. Curious twin towers, like mosque minarets, outside
the Karlkirche with winding frieze of figures in stucco relief.
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.