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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [241r] (481/498)
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.
from his home so his eulogy was read by Dr. Dixon Wright. Then a long eulogy
by Abdul Jabbar Jafari and a short one by Madam Ismat Said. Mehdiha, Ghazi's
widow was there with their two children. A moving and dignified service.
Ghazi Daghistani was a well beloved dignitary in Iraq.
The murdered corpse of Sir Abdul Bakir, Tafawa Balewa discovered by the
British Army when they moved into Nigeria to suppress the massacring rebels.
Sir Abdul Bakir f s death deeply regretted by the world.
Young Graham, at the Nautical College, Pangbourne, passed his driving test
first time - he is a clever, practical lad. Ian, his father, passed a medical
test after his breakdown in Brussels.
We now spend a fairly uneventful retired life in our large - too large
Brentwood House in Oxted. We played some indifferent golf at the well laid
out golf course a mile away at TandridgeJ" supported the Tandridge church.
In December the American Apollo 8 space flight with cosmonauts Barman
Lovell and Anders circle the moon - a six-day flight. All went perfectly
and they splashed down only five thousand yards from the recovery carrier
M Yorktown M in the Pacific - to the amasement and wonder of the world. Even
the Russians applauded.
On Sunday, July 20th 1969 took place the science fiction-like landing on
the moon by the American Neil Armstrong and Buz Aldrin whilst their companion,
Collins, continued circling the moon. All shown on T.V. via Telstar. We
saw the men get out and walk, stumblingly, because of their oxygen space
suits as the moon has no air and gravity only one-sixth of that on earth.
They spoke over the radio describing it all and exchanging congratulations
with President Nixon. Then at 6 p.m.-ish they took off again from the moon's
surface and re-linked up with Apollo 11, the main space-ship, and started
back to earth, all without a hitch. And the Russians did not let their
people see the live T.V. of it all. The Russians then sent up an unmanned
lunar probe which orbited the moon several times and then crashed on the moon
fulfilling, they said, its mission.
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.