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'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HERBERT TODD, C.I.E. 1893-1977' [211r] (421/498)
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.
- 209 -
©n a lakeside with a nice bedroom looking over the lake. We explored the
country round about but soon* got a bit bored so *phoned the hotel v/e had
booked at in Igls up the hill from Innsbruck to find that they could take us
three days earlier, so we decide t© move off.
But before we got away from Millstat we experienced a heavy flood down
the ^^Hak not far from our hotel. Very heavy rain in the hills behind
Millstat brought down a spate, uprooting trees and bursting down bridges.
The hotel car park was engulfed and a British man from the hotel who went to
try and drive out his car from the flood was overwhelmed by the spate and he
and his car were washed down into the lake and disappeared - poor devil. The
strength of the spate was unbelievable, rolling down huge rocks as well as
trees. The brown, muddy water even invaded the kitchen and lower rooms of our
hotel. All hands summoned to the pump to remove carpets and furniture to an
upper floor, but the muddy sl&sh did an awful lot of damage,
When we came to leave next day we had to lug our luggage up the hill to the
main road where we got a taxi which took us to the station just in time to
catch our 11.30 a.m. train. Through some lovely Alpine c, mtry eventually to
Innsbruck where a taxi was waiting for us to take us up to Igls 2,871 feet a.s.l.
to Hotel Iglerhof, where we had a nice room in an annexe with a nice view.
LXXXV11. IGLS.
Next day we went down to Innsbruck and explored the city, lunching at the
Golden Adler where we had stayed with the Blakes. Then we went and took
photos of my favourite piece cf statuory to the memory of Andreas Hofer, the
innkeeper, who led the 1809 revolt against Napoleon, the most expressive bronze
figures of an oldish man kneeling with his old gun and peering down the valley
in grim determination whilst an excited and agitated boy shakes his shoulder
and points, apprehension and fear in his face as he so obviously is pointing
out the advancing Napoleonic enemy.
We did all the usual things in Innsbruck. Went up by cable and got
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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- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.