HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir Robert Francis Mudie KCSI, KCIE, OBE (24 August 1890 – 15 September 1976) was a member of the
Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...
during the
British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. He was the last British Governor of Sind and after the partition of India and Pakistan in August 1947, he continued to serve as Governor of the West Punjab.


Education and early career


Education

Robert Francis Mudie attended Seafield House in
Broughty Ferry Broughty Ferry (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach Tatha''; Scots: ''Brochtie'') is a suburb of Dundee, Scotland. It is situated four miles east of the city centre on the north bank of the Firth of Tay. The area was a separate burgh from 1864 until 191 ...
. George Cunningham and
Rob Lockhart General Sir Rob McGregor MacDonald Lockhart (23 June 1893 – 11 September 1981) was a senior British Army officer during the World War II and later a leading member of the Scout Association. He served as the first Commander-in-Chief of the ...
attended the same school and were to meet again in India. From Seafield house, he went on a scholarship to Fettes College, Edinburgh, and later on a mathematical scholarship to
King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
. In 1911 he graduated as a wrangler.


Early career

After graduation Robert Francis Mudie spent a term as assistant master at
Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...
before commencing as assistant master at
Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
. After only four terms, he came to the conclusion that he had no interest in school mastering and after a six-month break he started studying for entrance examinations to join the Indian Civil Service (ICS).


First World War

ICS examinations started on 2 August 1914, two days before the war broke out. Robert Francis Mudie had previously been a sergeant in the Officer Training Corps at Cambridge, and immediately applied for a commission. He was gazetted on 26 August to the 6th (City of London) battalion, The London Regiment (Rifles), but was given permission to join two weeks later allowing him to complete the ICS entrance examinations. A number of successful ICS candidates had joined the army before the examination results came out, and the
War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
decided that successful candidates should be sent to India as soldiers and could join the service provided that within a year they had passed health, riding and language examinations. Robert Francis Mudie, one of the successful candidates, was tasked with becoming proficient in
Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
. Mudie was transferred first to the Royal Welch Fusiliers, then to a territorial division before joining the 2/4th battalion Somerset Light Infantry which was sent to India. The battalion sailed on the troop ship Saturnia, arriving in Bombay in the first week of January 1915. From Bombay the battalion was posted to
Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, where Mudie's company was detached to
Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of including the surrounding suburban areas. The first municipality in the district formed in 1970, Malappuram serves as the administrative headquarter ...
and Mudie was sent with a platoon to
Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...
, under the command of Raibert McDougall. In India the first British official he met was Charles Innes who was at the time
district collector A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...
in Calicut and later became Governor of
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. Since he needed to learn Bengali, after two months he was reassigned to the 1/10th battalion Middlesex regiment in
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
. He did not fit in with the regiment and requested a transfer, so four months later he was assigned to 10th Gurkha Rifles in Maymao. Later he was reassigned to the 16th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment) in Calcutta. After a temporary assignment to the 89th Punjabis he returned to Calcutta to join the 127th Baluchis. In 1917 he was sent for musketry training at Satara where he remained on the musketry staff until the end of the war. By this point he had been commissioned into the Indian Army Reserve of Officers and held the rank of Captain


Indian Civil Service


Acceptance into the Indian Civil Service

To enter the ICS, Robert Francis Mudie had been required to pass a medical, learn Bengali and to ride a horse. At Saturna where there was no horse, he passed the equestrian proficiency test by answering the question "Would you jump that cactus hedge?" with the answer "no". However he failed a medical examination, so he wrote to John Kerr, the Chief Secretary of Bengal, saying ''"...all I had to do in the ICS is to live in the country, so I would like to know what I am to die of and how soon, and could I now go to the War."'' John Kerr sent for him and after seeing that he was not immediately going to die, ordered a medical re-examination which he passed. Mudie had also failed to master Bengali, instead passing the proficiency test in
Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Indian Round Table Conference in London 1930-1931

While on leave, Mudie was appointed one of the secretaries to the first
Indian Round Table Conference held in London.


Allahabad, Collector

After the conference Mudie returned to India and was appointed Collector in Allahabad. At the time the Congress party headquarters was in Allahabad, where
Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
and his family lived very near the Collector's bungalow. C.Y. Chintamani, one of the Indian Liberals and a strong Nationalist, also lived in Allahabad at this time.


Cownpore, Collector

Mudie was posted as Collector to Bulandshahr, but in March 1932, Mudie was appointed Collector in Cownpore, a post he held until April 1936.


Railway Board, Delhi

In 1936, Mudie was posted as Officer on Special Duty with the Government of India to form the Railway Board, as defined in the Government of India Act 1935. The decision to set up the board was canceled, but Mudie remained in the post for a year.


Joint Secretary, Home Department, Government of India

In June 1937, Mudie was temporarily appointed Joint Secretary to the Home Department of the Government of India.


Revenue Secretary, United Provinces Government

In April 1938, Mudie was appointed Revenue Secretary to the United Provinces Government. In November 1939, the Congress Party resigned and Mudie replaced the Chief Secretary who was promoted to be one of the four Advisers replacing the Ministers.


Bihar

Mudie served as acting
Governor of Bihar The governor of Bihar is a nominal head and representative of the President of India in the state of Bihar. The Governor is appointed by the President for a term of 5 years. Phagu Chauhan is the current governor of Bihar. Former President Zaki ...
for eight months from 1943 to 1944.


Sind

Mudie served as the third and last
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Sind Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
under the British from 15 January 1946 to 13 August 1947.


Supporter of Pakistan movement

The following episode is related by
Naseer Ahmad Faruqui Naseer Ahmad Faruqui OBE, Sitara-e-Pakistan, SPk, HQA (decoration), HQA (15 December 1906 – 5 December 1991) was a prominent civil servant of Pakistan and prior to that in British India. He was son of Dr Basharat Ahmad, a medical officer in gove ...
, an ICS officer, who was at one time secretary to Sir Francis Mudie as well as a close friend, and later rose in Pakistan to Cabinet Secretary (in effect, Head of the Civil Service of Pakistan) under President Ayub Khan. Mr Faruqui writes: :"In 1946 I was Deputy Commissioner of Karachi. The Governor of the Sindh was Sir Francis Mudie, one of the few British who, being fully aware of the machinations of the Hindus, was a great sympathiser of the Muslims and supporter of the Pakistan cause. As I had previously served as his secretary, he used to tell me his inner feelings, especially as he found me to agree with his views. Even after I became Deputy Commissioner of Karachi he used to have discussions with me in favour of the creation of Pakistan. His support of the Muslims being no secret, the Hindu press used to refer to his name sarcastically, from his initials F.M., as “Fateh Muhammad”, and send telegrams against him to the Viceroy Lord Wavell and the Secretary of State for India Lord Pethick-Lawrence. But Sir Francis Mudie, instead of being overawed or intimidated, was undeterred and used to fight these complaints. :A British cabinet mission came to India in 1946, headed by Lord Pethick-Lawrence, to discuss the question of Indian independence, and on their way from London to New Delhi they stayed in Karachi for one night as guests of the Governor of the Sindh. The following morning it was my official duty, as District Magistrate, to be present at Karachi airport for their departure. After they left, the Governor beckoned me to accompany him in his car. As soon as the car moved off, he said to me: “Faruqui, they are not going to give us Pakistan”. This appeared to be the final, irrevocable decision of the British government...." :(See: http://www.ahmadiyya.org/books/m-kabir/mjk4-4.htm under heading 'Prediction of creation of Pakistan').


West Punjab

On partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, Mudie was appointed by Mr Jinnah as first Governor of (West) Punjab. He served as governor from 15 August 1947 until 2 August 1949. He was one of a handful of Europeans who remained in senior positions, to support the fledgling state of Pakistan after the departure of the British. Mudie was a supporter of the state of Pakistan and in correspondences warned of perceived lack of support from Britain and the Commonwealth.
Pakistan has a powerful, truculent and unscrupulous neighbour. She is a member of the Commonwealth and expects help and support from that neighbour. Instead she sees Britain giving way to India on every point - why should she remain with the Commonwealth? Pakistan will seek her friends elsewhere with disastrous consequence to the whole of Asia and the Middle-East. Any attempt at "impartiality" or detachment would simply be taken as another proof of Britain's pro-India and anti-Muslim attitude.
Mudie was critical of India's 'attack' on Hyderabad and in notes from 1948 wrote:
Indian attack on Hyderabad is akin to the German attack on Belgium/Poland; Hindus in sub-continent can be compared to the Southern Irish in Ulster and the Hindu-Muslim equation can be drawn alongside as a parallel to the Spaniards-Moors relations. A war between Indo-Pak would have violent consequences in the Middle-East; would be taken advantage of by Russia and would be disastrous for the Commonwealth.
In a letter to Sir Maurice Hallet in November 1948 he wrote discussing the Kashmir situation:
India contemplates the invasion of Pakistan - on the other hand, Pakistan has no intention of attacking. The only possible explanation of India's desire to obtain Kashmir - which would be a very difficult province to hold - is their desire to use as a constant threat to Pakistan as it is easy to attack the plains from the hills. The possession of Kashmir is as important to any power wanting to attack Pakistan as the possession of Austria was to Hitler when he attacked Czechoslovakia.
He was also convinced of the strategic importance of Pakistan to prevent the spread of Communism
Pakistan is the barrier to Communism spreading south of the Himalayas and should be preserved intact. This means that Kashmir, or at any rate all but the small Hindu area in the south-east should go to Pakistan which was the best solution of a very difficult problem.
In a speech given at the International Islamic Economic Conference in November 1949, Mudie claimed
Indo-Pak war must be prevented at all costs ecause of the very real possibility ofRussian intervention.
but went on to say
Kashmir goes right to the root of the matter. It is a negation of two nation theory - a negation of Pakistan's right to independence. It would outflank the West Punjab - should it ever come to the one-nation theory eingenforced by war.
Thus
Pakistan ad toaid the Pathan invaders and later its army had to enter Kashmir to come to the aid of the local insurgents.
He went on to conclude
hefundamental problem is Nehru's refusal to accept two-nation theory and Muslim right to rule themselves in Kashmir.


Later career

After resigning in 1949 from position of Governor of West Punjab, he returned to Britain and continued to be active in international affairs. From 1951 to 1954 he was head of the British Economic Mission to Yugoslavia. He chaired various inquiries and commissions: *Inquiry into the Rubber Industry of Malaya, 1954 *Commission on the Desert Locust Control Organisation, 1955 *British Caribbean Federal Capital Commission, 1956Great Britain. British Caribbean Federal Capital Commissio
"Report / British Caribbean Federal Capital Commission; Subject West Indies, British -- Capital and capitol"
''H.M. Stationery Office'', London, 1956
In the 1960s he served as president of the
Abertay Historical Society The Abertay Historical Society (AHS) is a historical society based in Dundee, Scotland. It aims to promote interest in history, with a special focus on the history of Perthshire, Angus and Fife. The AHS runs a regular programme of public lec ...
and co-authored that society's ninth publication, "Mains Castle and the Grahams of Fintry", with D. M. Walker.


Personal life

He was married twice, first in 1919 to Mary Spencer with whom he had one daughter Mary Mudie. His first wife died in 1960 and in the same year he remarried to Mary Elizabeth Abercromby, daughter of the late John Ellison Macqueen.


References


External links


C.Y. ChintamaniSir Frank Mudie Obituary, ''The Times'', 17 September 1976
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudie, Robert Francis People educated at Fettes College Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Governors of Sindh Governors of Punjab, Pakistan Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India 1890 births 1976 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire Pakistan Movement activists British expatriates in Pakistan People from Broughty Ferry