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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [220r] (439/498)
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.
- 218 -
House, Claridges, Ritz can have nothing on this!
we were taken out to a mansion-like club for lunch, set in a golf course
where we were amused to see the golfers careering r©und in their electric
propelled buggies. Met Mr. and Mrs. Morgan Davis, he the President of the
Humble Oil Coy. and taken up to their charming house. All the houses in this
well wooded suburb are detached with no hedges s<n> open on to large lawns
skirting the roads - all very neat, tidy and wealthy. A large number of Welsh
people here and so proud of their ancestry.
Next day we were picked up at 8.15 a.m. and driven down to Houston Docks
where we boarded a big Port launch and taken one-and-a-half hours downstream
to c an Jacinto, the site of the battle of that name, when Sam Houston in 1836
turned on the Mexicans after several defeats and capturing General Santa Anna
of Mexico, whereupon Texas declared its independence of Mexico and, after
considering joining the British Empire, finally agreed to join the United
States.
In the creek has been moored and grounded the battleship "Texas", hero
of World Wars I and II, as a memorial. Behind the creek, on a mound, has been
erected a 570 foot column. We went up to the top by lift and had a grand view
over the flat, green riverside^country. At the base of the column is a small
museum with relics of Sam Houston of that period
We were then taken to Houston Yacht Club for lunch at which we were publicly
presented with certificates signed by the Governor of Texas, making us honorary
citizens of Texas, which called for brief speeches.
Then we were taken to the airport and boarded a Humble Oil Coy. Dakota
and flown along the green coastal belt of the Bay of Mexico to Corpus Christi,
as the grass landing strip at the King Ranch was too waterlogged. By air-
conditioned Cadillac some thirty to forty miles through black cotton soil
farmland to the headquarters of the famous ranch, a delightful old, colonial
style, thick-walled house, something like our
Residency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
in Udaipur, India.
Dine with Mr. and Mrs. Jim C. she a youngish, good-looking vivacious woman
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
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