Memoirs of Meredith Worth [‎1r] (1/12)

I was educated at Repton and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and
• passed into the I.C.S.in 1927* After an enjoyable 4 ^ year at Corpus I was
posted £0 Chittagong, Bengal. After 6 months as Sub-Divisional Officer in
Kalimpong I went to Barrackpore in 1931* After a few months I was put on the
terrorists > Black List. I vTas &iven two very efficient Punjabi armed police
guards and a Gurkha guard on my house at night. I was also ordered to carry a
revolver wherever I went, even to Belvedere for a Viceregal Ball. Future life
in the Province did not therefore look promising and as the hot, humid climate
seriously affected my health, the Chief Secretary suggested that I shguld apply
for a transfer to the Government of India, Foreign and Political Department.
I did so, and eventually in 1933 w as posted to Gyantse, Tibet, as British Trade
Agent.
* My duties were to maintain friendly relations with Chinese and Tibetan
officials, Lamas and landowners and to ensure the safe passage of the wool
caravans from Lhasa to Kalimpong over the Jelep La. For ceremonial duties I had
an escort of infantry and mounted troops of the Mahratta Light Infantry
commanded by a future Major General, Dennis IRead, and half a dozen chaprassis
in' gorgeously caparisoned scarlet and gold uniforms. My memories are of many
cheerful parties in the Fort and in the homes oflvealthy families, the dominance
and brutality of the Lamas and officials towards the serf population and the
prevalence of venereal diseases. The only hospital in Tibet giving Western
medical treatment was in Gyantse^ attached to the Mission and looked after by
Captain David Tennant I.M.S. and Assistant Surgeon Bo, a capable Tibetan
who had been trained in India. The only education available for Tibetan children
was purely religious in nature and given by the Lamas* Perhaps conditions in
Europe in the early Middle Ages must have been similar. It was, therefore, for
me a relief recently to read in Han Suytr^s book ’Lhasa, the open City* that
those conditions no longer exist.
After a curtailed leave in the U.K. my next move was to a new post of
Assistant Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Bahrain..The Sheikh of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamid bin Isa
Al Khalifa, was a charming, very friendly old man who left the business of
governing his small State to his Prime Minister, Charles Belgrave. A small
oilfield, worked by the Standard Oil Co of California, registered in Canada,
provided most of the State income. Other industries were boat building and
pearling. After a short time the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Lt—Col Gordon Loch, relieved
L£-Col Fowle in Bushire as Resident and I had to act as Pilitical Agents
Touring to the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. States was mainly done in Sloops of the
Rjjyal Navy or occasionally in Flying Boats of 203 squadron R.A.F.Once we had
to take the No 2 of the Anglo-Persian Oil Co in Abadan to visit the Sheikh of
Qatar to try to persuade him to allow the Company to prospect for oil in his
State. I was told that we would have to be on our best behaviciup and that, if
we were invited to lunch, our Mission would most likely succeed. Our arrival
was not very impressive a4fc there was then no quay at Doha and we had to be
carried ashore. But the presence of the Senior Naval Officer and his frlag
Lieut in our party, and the salute fired from ’Shoreham 1 whilst, we were being
transported on the backs of his subjects must have impressed the Sheikh as we
were at once invited to lunch. Afterwards he agreed to a visit by a party from
the Oil Co. „ _• +
A splendid launch had been built in Bahrain for the Agercy and
was delivered at the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. quay 1 invited the Sheikh to come to inspect it.