| Order number: |
OA4, Memories of the British in India, Sound Cassettes, Box 1 [CLOSED]
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| Summary: |
Summary of interview: Plantation life in South india; description of estate; conditions for labourers and managers on estates; class barriers between British and Indians; life for Europeans on estates. Mrs Clough's education; her mother's dislike of club life; contacts with Indian culture and between Europeans and Indians; prejudice against Anglo-Indians; standards of health; contacts with tribal peoples such as Muddurans and Moplans; reminiscences of Maharajah's birthday celebrations in Travancore; quashing of Travancore's UDI bid in 1947; activities of UPASI (United Planters Association of South India); influence of F.E. James and Sir Pervical Griffiths on Mrs Clough; reminiscences of plantation labour force; voyage from England to India in 1940; war work; impact of Japanese victories on British attitudes; Mrs Clough's marriage; description of Calcutta and her life there; relics of 18th century India; problems of drawing boundary between India and Pakistan in Bengal; activities of Quit India movement; European view of INA and Subhas Chandra Bose; communal riots and tensions; Gandhi's peacekeeping role in Calcutta; description of Independence Day celebrations in Calcutta; improved Anglo-Indian relations after Independence; need for rapid transfer of power because of increasing inertia in administration.
Playback Cassette Side 1: South India plantation life: location of the estate; development of infrastructure; estate's isolation; recruitment of Tamil labour; relations with Head Office; engineering work; generosity of Head Office to High Range estates; historical reasons for differences between North Indian and South Indian estates; labour relations; provision for labourers; conditions for managers; floods problem and damage done; injury to Mrs Clough's father; visit to Madras nursing home; memories of ayah, butler and other servants; construction of road to west and its effects; specialist Tamil staff; class barriers between British and Indians; fraternization problems. Plantation life: Mrs Clough's education; club life; mother's opposition to club life; European attitude to Tamils; contact with Indian culture; knowledge of Tamil; Brahmins' reluctance to mix with Europeans; handling of labour; sending back to UK of employee; 'sleeping dictionaries'; prejudice against Anglo-Indians.
Playback Cassette Side 2: Prejudice against Anglo-Indians; European sense of threat from India; source of Europeans' feeling of insecurity; Mrs Clough's standard of health; mason labour; contact with MuCduvars; father's respect for MuCduvars; planters' attitude to Moplahs; opposition to 'Lavender's trace'; sight of aboriginal people; contact with Malayali world; attendance at Travancore Maharaja's state birthday; quashing of Travancore's UDI bid, 1947; Maharaja's state birthday; performance of musicians at the celebration description of banquet; kathakali performance. Sight of departure for UK of participants in 1931 conference.
Playback Cassette Side 3: Plantation life: father's activity in the United Planters Association of South India (UPASI); planters' attitude to Indian politics; influence of missionary F E James on Mrs Clough; contact with Percival Griffiths; unionization of plantation labour; question of trustworthiness of estate Indians; absence of dacoits; varied currencies in circulation; scuffles in lines; disciplining of labour force; Tamil 'bolters'; wage rates. Return to India, 1940. Voyage to India, 1940. Work supporting war effort. Impact of Japanese threat and sinking of British Warships off Malaya. Mrs Clough's marriage in 1942 in Calcutta. Her feelings about the city and its boxwallah community. Work on behalf of war effort. Excursions to shop in Calcutta bazaars. Relics of eighteenth century India. Problem of drawing India-Pakistan boundary in Bengal. Quit India movement; holding-up of Mrs Clough's train to Naini Tal. Subhas Bose's reputation in Calcutta; European indignation about 1NA formation. Throwing of soda water bottles in communal riots. Rehabilitation of returning Far East POWS.
Playback Cassette Side 4: Lack of knowledge in Calcutta about POW experience on Death Railway. Postal contact with UK. Calcutta communal tensions. Slight beating of Mrs Clough in anti-British riot. Gandhi's peacekeeping role in Calcutta; British gratitude to him. Independence Day celebration in Calcutta; fraternization of Borah and Marwari businessmen. Improved British-Indian relations after Independence. Changes in Calcutta after 1947. Need for rapid transfer of power because of increasing inertia in administration.
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| Main author: |
Clough; Monica (1922-1999); née Francis; historian |
| Other authors: |
Wood; Conrad (b 1942); historian and interviewer |
| Previous numbers: |
OA2/64/1-4
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| Extent: |
2 sound casettes
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| Admin history: |
Childhood and upbringing in South India as a tea planter's daughter. Life in Calcutta after 1940 as wife of Calcutta businessman |
| Custodial history: |
Recorded as part of the ’Memories of the British in India’ project by India Office Library & Records [subsequently the Oriental and India Office Collection, British Library]. This recording was previously held at SOAS Library as part of the 'British in India Oral Archive Project' collection [Reference OA2], removed from this collection in August 2014 to reflect the recording’s alternative provenance as part of the ‘Memories of the British in India’ project. |
| Access status: |
Closed
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| Access conditions: |
Sound recording currently unavailable at SOAS Library due to preservation reasons. Researchers can access a copy of this audio recording at the British Library Listening & Viewing Service. For more details see www.bl.uk/listening or contact listening@bl.uk / 020 7412 7418.
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| Copyright: |
Copyright held by British Library |
| User restrictions: |
Private study only. For publication or broadcast please refer to Archivist |
| Language: |
English
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| Originals: |
Original sound recording of interview available at British Library Listening & Viewing Service [Reference: C63/70-75]
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| Format: |
Archive
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