Philip Mason
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Philip Mason (19 March 1906 – 25 January 1999), was an English civil servant and writer. He is best known for his two-volume book on 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 him ...
, ''The Men Who Ruled India'' (written under the pseudonym 'Philip Woodruff', the latter being his mother's maiden name), and his study of the Indian Army, ''A Matter of Honour'' (1974).


Early life and education

Philip Mason was one of three children- two sons and a daughter- of Herbert Alfred Mason (1876–1968), a general practitioner at Duffield, Derbyshire, and his wife Ethel Addison (1880–1956), daughter of Herbert Addison Woodruff, an engineer and manager of a Cammell Laird steel factory. The Mason family had been farmers for several generations at
Barrowden Barrowden is a village in Rutland in the East Midlands of England. ] The village's name means 'burial-mound hill'. There are a number of Tumulus, barrows in the area. The population of the civil parish was 506 at the 2011 census. There i ...
in Rutland, East Midlands; his great-grandfather Henry brewed beer and sold malting barley to brewers, and his grandfather George Mason "grew first-class malting barley and reared Leicester lambs". On the basis that "Woodruff" struck him as "a prettier, a more unusual, and a more romantic name than plain ordinary Mason", he "decided very early to be Philip Woodruff Mason and was known by that name until (he) was thirteen and had to produce a birth certificate." Mason was educated at
Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. I ...
and Balliol College, Oxford, taking a first-class degree in Modern Greats. In 1978 he published a volume of autobiography, ''A Shaft of Sunlight: memories of a varied life'' (Deutsch, ), and in 1984 a sequel, ''A Thread of Silk''.


Career with the Indian Civil Service

Mason worked for 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 p ...
from 1928 to 1947. He was an under-secretary in the War Department from 1933 to 1936, in that year being appointed Deputy Commissioner at Garhwal and remaining in this position until 1939. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, he held appointments in the Defence and War Departments at Delhi (Deputy Secretary, Defence Co-ordination and War Departments 1939–42; Secretary of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, India and Head of Conference Secretary, South-East Asia Command 1942–4, Joint Secretary, War Department 1944–7), retiring in 1947 intending to take up farming.


Race and decolonisation

With his farming efforts, even supplemented by the income from his writing, proving insufficiently remunerative for the needs of his growing family, Mason took the part-time position as the first Director of Studies of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at
Chatham House Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute headquartered in London. Its stated mission is to provide commentary on world events and offer solutions to global challenges. It is ...
, serving in this capacity from 1952 to 1958. Mason's role was to both undertake research and seek out scholarly work on disciplines relating to racial problems; he first went to
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kno ...
, at the time when it was embarking upon a union with Northern Rhodesia and
Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasala ...
. Three volumes- The Birth of a Dilemma (1958), The Two Nations, and The Year of Decision (the second undertaken by a junior colleague, but the first and third by Mason)- resulted from this research. By 1958, his position at Chatham House translated into directorship of the independent UK
Institute of Race Relations The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is a think tank based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1958 in order to publish research on race relations worldwide, and in 1972 was transformed into an "anti-racist think tank". Proposed by ''Sund ...
; during this time, Mason focused on Latin America, producing Patterns in Dominance (1970), the last book he wrote before retiring in 1969. Mason was strongly influenced by
Octave Mannoni Dominique-Octave Mannoni (; 29 August 1899, in Sologne – 30 July 1989, in Paris) was a French psychoanalyst and author. Life After spending more than twenty years in Madagascar, Mannoni returned to France after World War II where he, inspired ...
's use of ''The Tempest'' to illuminate the colonial situation — Prospero as imperialist — and in his own book of 1962, ''Prospero's Magic: Some Thoughts on Class and Race'', he extended Mannoni's symbolism to cover the Third World in general, noting how "in my country until a generation ago we liked Prospero...some of us are beginning not to like him".


Marriage and later life

In retirement, Mason wrote nine more books, before encroaching blindness ended his literary endeavours (he had previously suffered temporary blindness in 1941 after a shooting accident). These works included a biography of
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
and two autobiographical volumes. In 1935, Mason had married (Eileen) Mary, daughter of Courtenay Hayes, of
Charmouth Charmouth is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the mouth of the River Char, around north-east of Lyme Regis. Dorset County Council estimated that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 1,31 ...
, Dorset and niece of senior Indian Army officer Major-General
William Twiss General William Twiss, (1745 – 14 March 1827), was a British Army Royal Engineer, responsible for the design of many military defences. Probably born in Kent in 1744 or 1745, Twiss worked in the ordnance office at the Tower of London from ...
. They had two sons and two daughters. Mason lived at Mulberry House, Church Street,
Fordingbridge Fordingbridge is a town and broader civil parish with a population of 6,000 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest, famed for its late medieva ...
, Hampshire (formerly at Hither Daggons, Brock's Hill, Cripplestyle, in the parish of
Alderholt Alderholt is a large village and civil parish in east Dorset, England; situated west of Fordingbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Crendell and Cripplestyle. The local travel links are located from the village to Salisbury railway stat ...
, near Fordingbridge),Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, 1973, Kelly's Directories, p. 2839 where he died.A Thread of Silk: Further Memories of a Varied Life, Philip Mason, M. Russell, 1984, p. 188 He had been created OBE in 1942, and CIE in 1946.


See also

* Wind of Change


References


Further reading


Documents about the History of the Institute of Race Relations written by Philip Mason
can be found at the Borthwick Institute, University of York {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Philip Historians of South Asia Indian Civil Service (British India) officers 20th-century Indian historians Economic history of India Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Officers of the Order of the British Empire Institute directors 1999 deaths 1906 births 20th-century British historians Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford People educated at Sedbergh School