Partition

by Barney White-Spunner

  64 ICHR 1942–43 Part 2, section viii, 1889.

  65 ToP, vol. iv, No.158, Rutherford to Linlithgow, 2 October 1943, after he had taken over from Herbert as Governor of Bengal.

  66 ICHR 1942–43 Part 2, Section viiii, 1859, Herbert to Linlithgow, 2 July 1943.

  67 ICHR 1942–43 Part 2, section viii, 1865, Linlithgow to Amery, 4 August 1943.

  68 ICHR 1942–43 Part 2, section viii, 1873.

  69 ICHR 1942–43 Part 2, section viii, 1838.

  70 ToP, vol iv, No.213, Wavell to Amery, 8 November 1943.

  71 ToP, vol iv, No.230, Wavell to Amery, 16 November 1943.

  72 Major General D. K. Palit interviewed c.4 December 1988 in Delhi, transcript in British Library R193/9; this is an interview that can be quoted from.

  73 ToP, vol. iv, Nos. 376, 413, 435 and 551.

  74 ToP, vol. iv, No.208, Rutherford to Wavell, 4 November 1943.

  75 ToP, vol. iv, No.199, Wavell to Amery, 1 November 1943.

  76 ToP, vol. iv, No.364, Wavell to Amery, 9 February 1944.

  77 ICHR 1942–43, Part 2, section viii, 1912.

  78 Saumarez Smith, A Young Man’s Country, p.2.

  79 ToP, vol. iv, No.305, Burrows to Pethick-Lawrence, 25 January 1947.

  80 ToP, vol. iv, No.145, Gandhi to Linlithgow, 27 September 1943.

  81 Edwardes, p.142.

  82 Edwardes, p.148.

  83 Edwardes, p.159.

  84 Moon, Divide and Quit, p.57.

  85 Khan, The Great Partition, p.26.

  86 Admiral Chatterji interviewed in Delhi, 26 November 1988. The transcript is in the British Library (C63/195/06); copyright restrictions mean it is not possible to quote directly from it.

  87 Major General D. K. Palit interviewed in Delhi, 4 December 1988.

  88 Tuker, p.40.

  89 ToP, vol. iv, No.286, Colville to Pethick-Lawrence, 20 January 1947.

  90 Mitchell, Chapter 4.

  91 Kushwant Singh, radio interview, BBC World Series. British Library C991/13.

  92 Mitchell, Chapter 4.

  93 Saumarez Smith, p.x.

  94 ToP, vol. ix, No.281, Wavell to Attlee, 17 January 1947.

  95 ToP, vol. ix, No.331, Attlee to Wavell, 31 January 1947.

  Chapter 2: February

  1 Jalal, p.232.

  2 V. P. Menon interviewed by Henry Hodson, 12 September 1964. BBC Indian Tales from the Raj, No.55. British Library Sound Archive.

  3 Edwardes, p.24.

  4 Brown, Gandhi, p.139.

  5 Brown, Gandhi, p.353.

  6 Collins & Lapierre, Freedom at Midnight, p.52.

  7 Quoted by Sheela Reddy, Mr and Mrs Jinnah, p.58.

  8 Brown, Gandhi, p.76.

  9 Collins & Lapierre, Freedom at Midnight, opp. p.310.

  10 ToP, vol. ix, No.561, Wavell to Mountbatten 25 March 1947

  11 ToP, vol. x, No.16, Mountbatten’s Notes.

  12 Brown, Gandhi, p.128.

  13 Philips, The Partition of India 1947, p.6.

  14 Edwardes, p.43.

  15 Mercado, The Shadow Warriors of Nakano, p.73.

  16 Philips, p.8.

  17 Philips, p.8.

  18 A. K. Damodaran interviewed by the BBC 1988.

  19 V. P. Menon interviewed by Henry Hodson, 12 September 1964. British Library Audio Library.

  20 ToP, vol. ix, No.460, Wavell to HM the King, 24 February 1947.

  21 ToP, vol. ix, No.460, Wavell to HM the King, 24 February 1947.

  22 ToP, vol. ix, No.561, Wavell to Mountbatten, 25 March 1947.

  23 ToP, vol. ix, No.460, Wavell to HM the King, 24 February 1947.

  24 ToP, vol. ix, No.561, Wavell to Mountbatten, 25 March 1947.

  25 ToP, vol. ix, No.460, Wavell to HM the King, 24 February 1947.

  26 ToP, vol. ix, No.561, Wavell to Mountbatten, 25 March 1947.

  27 ToP, vol. ix, No.561, Wavell to Mountbatten, 25 March 1947.

  28 ToP, vol. ix, No.350, Nehru to Wavell, 5 February 1947.

  29 ToP, vol. ix, No.337, Wavell to Pethick-Lawrence, 3 February 1947.

  30 ToP, vol. ix, No.340, Mountbatten to Attlee, 4 February 1947.

  31 ToP, vol. ix, No.351, Wavell to Attlee, 5 February 1947.

  32 ToP, vol. ix, No.395, Note by Sir F. Burrows dated 14 February 1947 and No. 410, Wavell to Pethick-Lawrence, 17 February 1947.

  33 ToP, vol. ix, No.420, Attlee to Wavell, 18 February 1947.

  34 ToP vol. ix, No.429, Pethick-Lawrence to Wavell, 19 February 1947.

  35 Command 7047, published 20 February 1947, replicated in ToP, vol. ix, No.438.

  36 Dawn, 21 February 1947, replicated in ToP, vol. ix, No.440, 1947.

  37 Hindustan Times, 21 February 1947, replicated in ToP, vol. ix, No.439.

  38 ToP, vol. ix, No.452, quoting Hindustan Times, 23 February 1947.

  39 ToP, vol. ix, No.453, statement by Bhopal, 23 February 1947.

  40 ToP, vol. ix, No.383, Wavell to Pethick-Lawrence, 12 February 1947.

  41 Tuker, p.219.

  42 Conversations recorded for BBC documentary India–Pakistan Partition (2007), edited by Tarun Rajpoot.

  43 Bir Bahadur Singh has spoken extensively about his experiences in 1947. In 2007 he was interviewed by the BBC for its documentary on partition; he is also quoted extensively in Urvash Butalia’s The Other Side of Silence, from where this quote is taken, p.176.

  44 ToP, vol. ix, No.354, Baldev Singh to Wavell, 6 February 1947.

  45 ToP, vol. ix, No.366, Jenkins to Pethick-Lawrence, 8 February 1947.

  46 ToP, vol. ix, No.351, Wavell to Attlee, 5 February 1947.

  47 ToP, vol. ix, No.417, Mountbatten to Wavell, 18 February 1947.

  48 ToP, vol. ix, No.392, Wavell to Mountbatten, 14 February 1947.

  49 Hamid, Disastrous Twilight, p.133.

  50 Hamid, Disastrous Twilight, p.133.

  51 Christie, Morning Drum, p.98.

  52 Christie, p.95.

  53 Schofield, p.377.

  54 ToP, vol. ix, No.460, Wavell to HM the King, 24 February 1947.

  Chapter 3: March

  1 The Akalis were Sikhs who believed in reforming their temples, gurdwaras, and should not be confused with the highly militarised nihangs who are often referred to as akalis in accounts of 1947.

  2 ToP, vol. x, No.566, Jenkins to Mountbatten, 30 April 1947.

  3 ToP, vol. ix, No.476, Jenkins to Wavell, 3 March 1947.

  4 ToP, vol. ix, No.481, Jenkins to Pethick-Lawrence, 4 March 1947.

  5 ToP, vol. ix, No.490, Jenkins to Wavell, 5 March 1947.

  6 ToP, vol. ix, No.540, Jenkins to Wavell, 17 March 1947.

  7 Urvash Butalia, The Other Side of Silence, p.175.

  8 ToP, vol. ix, No.560, Messervy to Auchinleck, 22 March 1947.

  9 ToP, vol. ix, No.560, Messervy to Auchinleck, 22 March 1947.

  10 Bir Bahadur Singh related this sad story to the BBC for its 2007 documentary; see note 43 for Chapter 2 above. It is also recounted in detail by Urvash Butalia in The Other Side of Silence, pp.179–80.

  11 ToP, vol. ix, No.501, Jenkins to Wavell, 7 March 1947.

  12 ToP, vol. ix, No.540, Jenkins to Wavell, 17 March 1947.

  13 Bristow, Memories of the British Raj, p.146.

  14 ToP, vol. ix, No.513, Jenkins to Wavell, 9 March 1947.

  15 ToP, vol. ix, No.560, Messervy to Auchinleck, 22 March 1947.

  16 ToP, vol. ix, No.513, Jenkins to Wavell, 9 March 1947.

  17 Seal, Emergence of Indian Nationalism, p.302.

  18 V. P. Menon interviewed by Henry Hodson, 12 September 1964.

  19 ToP, vol. x, No.11, Nehru to Mountbatten, 24 March 1947.

  20 V. P. Menon interviewed by Henry Hodson, 12 September 1964.

  21 Hamid, Disastrous Twilight, p.57.

  22 Sarojini Naidu, Mohomed Ali Jinnah: An Ambassador of Unity, quoted by Sheela Reddy in Mr and Mrs Jinnah, p.17.

  23 Jalal, The Sole Spokesman, p.38.

  24 Jalal, p.42.

  25 There were 16 annas to one rupee.
<
br />   26 ToP, vol. x, No.11, Nehru to Mountbatten, 24 March 1947.

  27 Jalal, p.48.

  28 Jalal, p.49.

  29 Jalal, p.57.

  30 ToP, vol. x, No.30, Cabinet Minutes, 28 March 1947.

  31 Geoffrey Lamarque, quoted by kind permission of his family. There is a copy of his interview in the British Voices from South Asia Series in the T. Harry Williams Centre for Oral History, Louisiana State University.

  32 HMSO, Cmnd 6019, 23 May 1939.

  33 Spear, p.235.

  34 Schofield, p.371.

  35 ToP, vol. ix, No.559, Wavell’s Farewell Broadcast Press Release, 22 March 1947.

  36 Hamid, Disastrous Twilight, p.150.

  37 Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Massey’s personal recollections, ‘Life of an Indian Cavalry Officer’, were given to the author by his son, Colonel Hamon Massey. Paddy Massey was also interviewed in the Imperial War Museum’s Oral History series, IWM No.19975.

  38 Quoted by Collins & Lapierre in Freedom at Midnight, p.94.

  39 ToP, vol. x, No.8, Mountbatten’s swearing-in address, 24 March 1947.

  40 ToP, vol. ix, No.543, Attlee to Mountbatten, 18 March 1947.

  41 Freedom at Midnight was first published in the United Kingdom by William Collins in 1975. Mountbatten’s subsequent interviews with Collins & Lapierre were published in Mountbatten and the Partition of India in 1982.

  42 Kushwant Singh interview, BBC World Series. British Library C991/13.

  43 Christie, p.98.

  44 Christie, p.100.

  45 Ismay, The Memoirs of Lord Ismay, pp.416–7 and p.435.

  46 Christie, p.100.

  47 Ismay, p.417.

  48 Dr Prem Bhatia interviewed for the BBC, 30 November 1987.

  49 Time magazine archive, 1962.

  50 ToP, vol x, No.451, Viceroy’s Personal Report No. 7, 15 May 1947.

  51 Patel quoted by French in Liberty or Death, p.279.

  52 Paddy Massey interviewed for the Imperial War Museum’s Oral History series, IWM No.19975.

  53 ToP, vol. x, No.11; Mountbatten’s notes of meeting with Nehru, 24 March 1947.

  54 Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten, p.46.

  55 V. P. Menon interviewed by Henry Hodson, 12 September 1964.

  56 Mountbatten’s account of this first meeting is in ToP, vol. x, No.37, 31 March 1947.

  57 ICHR Part One 1947, No.615, Gandhi to refugees at Pipalwan, 22 March 1947.

  58 Patel to Gandhi, 24 March 1947 and quoted by Brown in Gandhi, p.369.

  59 ToP, vol. x, No.47, Mountbatten’s meeting with Gandhi, 1 April 1947.

  60 ToP, vol. x, No.10, Bikaner to Mountbatten, 24 March 1947.

  61 ToP, vol. x, No.6, Aiyar to Miéville, 23 March 1947.

  62 V. P. Menon interviewed by Henry Hodson, 12 September 1964.

  63 Auchinleck interviewed by David Dimbleby for the BBC, 21 June 1974.

  64 V. P. Menon interviewed by Henry Hodson, 12 September 1964.

  65 Hamid, Disastrous Twilight, p.152.

  66 ToP vol. x, No.50, Mountbatten’s meeting with Auchinleck, 1 April 1947.

  Chapter 4: April

  1 Christie, p.63.

  2 Minto, diary entry for Thursday 19 April.

  3 There is a good description of what a typical District Officer’s visit to a village was like in Moon, Strangers in India, pp.22–9.

  4 Geoffrey Lamarque’s comments are reproduced by kind permission of his family.

  5 Christie, pp.38–62.

  6 Judge H. C. Beaumont interviewed about 1947. Record in British Library C63/89-93. Permission to quote from this interview has been kindly granted by his family.

  7 Notes given to the author by J. P. Cross, 1st Battalion King George V’s Own Gurkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment), 24 May 2016.

  8 Ismay, p.415.

  9 Bew, Citzen Clem, p.187.

  10 Bew, p.285.

  11 Bew, p.436.

  12 Bew, p.434.

  13 Bew, p.438.

  14 ToP, vol. x, No.59, Mountbatten’s Personal Report, 2 April 1947.

  15 ICHR Part One 1947. No.872; Hindustan Times, 1 April 1947.

  16 ToP, vol. x, No.84, notes of Mountbatten’s meeting with Jinnah, 5 April 1947.

  17 ToP, vol. x, No.92; Liaquat’s letter is No.94. Both 7 April 1947.

  18 ToP, vol. x, No.101, Mountbatten and Jinnah’s third meeting, 8 April 1947.

  19 ToP, vol. x, No.87, minutes of the viceroy’s staff meeting, 6 April 1947.

  20 ToP, vol. x, No.119, minutes of the viceroy’s staff meeting, 11 April 1947.

  21 ToP, vol. x, No.124, Miéville notes on meeting with Jinnah, 11 April 1947.

  22 ToP, vol. x, No.126, Mountbatten’s meeting with Liaquat, 11 April 1947.

  23 ToP, vol. x, No.120, Ismay to Menon, 11 April 1947.

  24 Ismay, p.425.

  25 ToP, vol. x, No.139, Covering Note for Governors’ Conference, 15 April 1947.

  26 Tuker, p.275, which also describes the disturbances in the United Provinces.

  27 Figures taken from Erskine-Crum’s notes from the viceroy’s staff meeting, ToP, vol. x, No.195, 20 April 1947.

  28 ToP, vol. x, No.139, Tyson, 15 April 1947; and ToP, vol. x, No. 264, Burrows to Mountbatten, 1 May 1947.

  29 ToP, vol. x, No.139, Nye to Tyson, 15 April 1947; and ToP, vol. x, No.163, Suhrawardy to Shone, 16 April 1947.

  30 ToP, vol. x, No.163, Shone meeting with Suhrawardy, 16 April 1947.

  31 ToP, vol. x, No.139, Covering Note for Governors’ Conference, 15 April 1947.

  32 ToP, vol. X, No.160, Jenkins to Mountbatten, 16 April 1947.

  33 See Jalal, pp.163–8 for full coverage of the Sind elections.

  34 ToP, vol. x, No.149, Mountbatten meeting with Mudie, 15 April 1947.

  35 ToP, vol. x, No.139, Covering Note for Governors’ Conference, 15 April 1947.

  36 Hodson, The Great Divide, p.284.

  37 Mitchell’s comments, and those that follow, come from his autobiography The Quiet People of India, which is available as an audiobook although I cannot find it in print anywhere. The events of April 1947 are at the end of Part Two.

  38 N. Mukherji interviewed for Imperial War Museum’s Oral History series, IWM No.14661.

  39 Edward Behr, Bearings, p.44.

  40 Behr, pp.39 and 51.

  41 Hodson, p.278.

  42 The minutes of this meeting are in ToP, vol. X, No.171, dated 18 April 1947.

  43 ToP, vol. x, No.122, Mountbatten’s meeting with de la Fargue, 11 April 1947.

  44 ICHR 1947, Part One, No.1087.

  45 ToP, vol. x, No.247, Scott to Abell, 28 April 1947.

  46 ToP, vol. x, No.250, Mountbatten’s report on visit to NWFP, 28 April 1947.

  47 Mitchell, see Note 36 above.

  48 ICHR 1947, Part One, No.1096, dated 30 April 1947.

  49 ToP, vol. x, No.138, meeting between Mountbatten and Auchinleck, 14 April 1947.

  50 ToP, vol. x, No.109, Jenkins to Mountbatten, 9 April 1947.

  51 Ismay, p.420.

  52 ToP, vol. x, No.121, Mountbatten meeting with Rajagopalachari, 11 April 1947.

  53 ToP, vol. x, No.264, viceroy’s staff meeting, 1 May 1947.

  54 Ismay, p.417.

  55 ToP, vol. x, No.159, Jinnah to Shone, 16 April 1947.

  56 ToP, vol. x, No.221, Jinnah to Mountbatten, 26 April 1947.

  57 For a full breakdown of centrally retained powers see Jalal, p.261.

  58 Jalal, p.245.

  59 Jalal, p.262.

  Chapter 5: May

  1 ToP, vol. x, No.200, Menon to Mountbatten, 22 April 1947.

  2 ToP, vol. x, No.169, Menon to Mountbatten, 17 April 1947.

  3 ToP, vol. x, No.211, Mountbatten to Nehru, 24 April 1947.

  4 ToP, vol. x, No.165, Mountbatten’s Personal Report, 16 April 1947.

  5 Collins & Lapierre, Mountbatten and the Partition of India, p.30.

  6 ICHR, Part One, 1947, No.890, Saha to Prasad, 4 May 1947.

  7 Tuker, p.28
2.

  8 ICHR, Towards Freedom, 1947, Part 1, pp.1266 and 1270.

  9 Tuker covers the Gurgaon disturbances in detail; chapter XXVII.

  10 ToP, vol. x, No.558, Liaquat to Mountbatten, 30 May 1947.

  11 ICHR, Towards Freedom, 1947, Part 1, p.1266.

  12 ToP, vol. x, No.222, Ismay to Mountbatten, 25 April 1947.

  13 Full details of the plan are in ToP, vol. x, No.222, 25 April 1947, and No.260, 30 April 1947.

  14 Hodson, p.293.

  15 ToP, vol. x, No.267, Nehru to Mountbatten, 1 May 1947.

  16 ToP, vol. x, No.276, Viceroy’s Personal Report, 1 May 1947.

  17 Figures taken from Wilkinson, Army and Nation, p.47.

  18 D. K. Palit interviewed for the BBC Sound Archive. British Library R193/9.

  19 The Chatfield Report is in the British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/5/1802.

  20 Figures taken from Wilkinson, p.65.

  21 Wilkinson, p.75.

  22 Strength Returns of Indian Armed Forces, British Library IOR/L/MIL/175/1801.

  23 Wilkinson, p.79, quoting Willcox Committee 1945, Section 157, paras 2–3.

  24 Evan Charlton interviewed for Plain Tales from the Raj, British Library Sound Archive C1398/1833.

  25 Spike Milligan, Plain Tales from the Raj, British Library Sound Archive C1398/1833.

  26 The report is in the British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/5/1801.

  27 The Chatfield Report, Appendix III.

  28 Lieutenant Colonel Denis de Grouchy Lambert interviewed by Margaret Macdonald, 4 September 1984.

  29 Tuker, p.293.

  30 Strength Returns of Indian Armed Forces and British Forces in India, 1 July 1947. British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/5/1451.

  31 Strength Return of Indian Armed Forces and British Forces in India, 1 July 1947. British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/5/1451.

  32 ICHR, Towards Freedom, Part 3, 1943–4, Chapter XVI, No.33.

  33 ICHR, Towards Freedom, Part 3, 1943–4, Chapter XVI, No.40.

  34 ICHR, Towards Freedom, Part 3, 1943–4, Chapter XVI, No.7.

  35 ICHR, Towards Freedom, Part 2, 1943–4, Chapter XVI, No.76.

  36 ICHR, Towards Freedom, Part 3, 1943–4, Chapter XVI, p.2677.

  37 D. K. Palit interviewed for the BBC Sound Archive. British Library R193/9.

  38 ICHR, Towards Freedom, Part 3, 1943–4, Chapter XV, Nos.5 and 29.

  39 Gandhi to Wavell, 9 March 1944. ICHR, Towards Freedom, Part 3, 1943–4, Chapter XVI, Nos.307 and 417.

  40 Nehru, An Autobiography, p.159.

  41 Wilkinson, pp.101–2.

  42 Wilkinson, p.57.

  43 Jinnah Papers, National Archive of Pakistan, First Series, vol. 1, Part 1. No.420.