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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [239r] (477/498)
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.
- 237 -
and industrial city, all so neat and tidy, and on by wide autobahn into
Holland, past Delft to Keukenhof (Kitchen, as it is called, with its college
for girls in the grounds for domestic science). It is a large park with an
elongated lake with beech and lime trees, lawns and large splashes of hyacinth
beds, all in full bloom, interspersed with tulips, grape hyacinths, daffodils
and narcissus - and a showy windmill at the to-p end of the park. Not so large
or varied as our Wisley but beautifully laid out. A feature was the many
futuristic metal statuory - pretty awful some of them and all rather meaning
less, particularly one of a dustbin lid erected on a seven ft. pillar of old,
rusty iron.
We bought some tulips in bud - and were rather disgusted to find on our
return to Oxted that they were more expensive than at home!
And so by coach to the airport at Rotterdam - just recovering from the
German blitz of the war. A forty-five minutes' flight brought us to Manston
again. By coach up to London to find we were too late for the last train to
Oxted. so we took a taxi which cost us £4-. And so ended a busy three days.
I was glad Nancy did not come. She would have found the rush and the crush
intolerable - but it was a good experience - but the fabulous tulip fields of
Holland did not come up to our expectations - our own tulip shows at King's
Lynn are every bit as spectacular.
In September 1965 we went on a holiday to Killarney. I drove our Rover
car to Fishguard, and so by ship to Cork in one night and from there dro^e
down t© Kinsale for one night and next day on to Killarney where we stayed
in a self-contained, wooden apartment in a tgdw of such apartments with a central
restaurant on the shores of Lake Killarney.
One day we drove round the renowned Kerry Ring, a picturesque road round
one of the fingers of land running out westward into the Atlantic, a lovely
coastal road to Waterville, up the edge of Kenmore, past Parknasila, and over
the hills back to Killarney. As expected, the weather was chancey but we did
many car tours round the country and saw all the usual sights in Kerry and
/
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
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- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.