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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [219r] (437/498)
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.
- 217 -
shopping centres, drive-in banks, into a self-service store with the butchers’
meat all done up in handy cuts encased in cellophane in open top frigidaires -
all very hygienic.
Then off, one-and-a-quarter hour's flight to Dallas where we were put up
in the huge one-thousand room Statler Hilton Hotel - but we found ourselves
in a bed-sitter with convertible couches. This was a more typical mid-west
town with homely Americans dressed in homely clothes. Here again we were taken
to the Fair which was bigger, but much the same as that at our last stop,
^e were taken to the large Cotton Bowl, a large arena, and watched a game of
American football which we couldn't understand - the players in shoulder armour
and the game entailed pushing and squeezing the small elliptical ball yard
by yard towards rugby type goals. It aroused great excitement with girl
cheer leaders, college bands, prayer before the game - national anthem.
'Quarters' lasted fifteen minutes and as time petered out it was shown on a
large electric signboard - all very strange to; us.
The young Magnolia Oil Coy. P.R.O. took us out for a drive round Dallas,
particularly to see the first house built in Dallas in the early 1800s, by
an Irish ferryman on the banks of the Trinity River - just a stone hut, but
preserved under an o-pen-sided roof. Such is the desire for relics of a not
far distant past!
That night we were taken out to dinner. Our hosts, Mr. and Mrs. B.
took us to a dimly lit, hot little restaurant where they had huge gory steaks.
If the U.S.A. reduced their steaks by half and ate just as much of them as
they do at present, i.e. one-third, they could afford to feed the hungry
world.
Next day we flew from Dallas to Houston, also in Texas. Met by Mr. and
Mrs. R.H. Taken in a huge, airc onditioned Cadillac to the Houston Sheraton
Hilton Hotel through the usual, highly-coloured hoardings and neon lights.
Found ourselves in a fabulous, richly furnished suite with a kitchen and a
frig and two large double bedrooms with a small, man’s dressing-room - Buck
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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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- 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.