Education and early career
Education
Robert Francis Mudie attended Seafield House inEarly career
After graduation Robert Francis Mudie spent a term as assistant master atFirst 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 theIndian 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 inIndian 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, whereCownpore, 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 theJoint 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 actingSind
Mudie served as the third and lastSupporter of Pakistan movement
The following episode is related byWest 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 CommissioPersonal 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
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