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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [245r] (489/498)
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.
- 24-3 -
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attempt t® pin him down. The driver of the fast driven sports car which had
knocked me and car some twenty to twenty—five yards down the road made con
tradictory and fuddled evidence obviously expecting to be held responsible
for the accident as he had seen me moving out across the road and contended
he had slowed down in consequence, yet hit me with such force in my rear to
carry me down the road and smash up my car. Yet the bench held case against
me, fined me £30 and endorsed my licence. My solicitor was so incensed at
the ineptitude of my counsel that he excused himself from lunching with him
and refused to charge me anything for the case or counsel. And so my blame
less sixty years of driving was blotted by this unfair case. Theo didn’t
think it was worth appealing as the police story was always supported.
A few years later our Tandridge church vicar driving out on to the same
road admitted he hadn’t looked at the traffic coming from his left — was bashed
into and his car and the other car were complete write-offs. The police came
and when they found no-one was hurt and no-one was making a charge, took no
action whatever, saying it was a case for the two drivers’ insurance and they
had no concern in the matter. So is justice administered.
My solicitor, Theo Levett, came in and said he was complaining to the
Inns of Court at the ineptitude of the counsel they had sent to represent
me. He was strongly of opinion that he should have got me cleared easily
and the whole matter was gross injustice. Now, I suppose, I am branded as
a criminal!!
Very hot summer and Nancy and I spend most afternoons over in the cool
of the Pound House as our Colt bungalow heats up unbearably, but 1975 was
a very hot, dry summer everywhere.
In Feb. 1976 I paid £992 in advance for the Swan Tour we hope to go on
in April 1st to 14-th. We flew out to Venice and joined the m.t.s. ’’Orpheus",
a nice five—thousand ton ship that had been on ferry service Holyhead to
Dublin. We had a small two-berth cabin on third deck. On board was Rab
Butler and his wife. e are due to sail down the Adriatic and then round
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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- 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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