Interview with Arthur Walter Pryde OBE [sound recording]

Summary: Playback Cassette Side 1: Family and educational background. Commissioning in Indian Army Reserve of officers, 1917. Postings in India. Afghan War: relief column for Bannu; orders to withdraw; Pryde1s complaint about neglect of wounded: his whisky remedy for dysentery; cholera epidemic among troops; tribesmen's theft of unit's sheep; Pryde's opinion of enemy; decapitation of CO. Afghan War: burial of CO; winning of posthumous VC by RAMC officer; rawness of troops; punitive raid on village; Fakir of Ipi and crash of plane; sight of Afghan Army. Benares: Pryde's evacuation to; his station staff officer duties; taking over of armoury at Moghul Serai; assessment of non-co-operation movement and strength of British rule; Pryde's commissioning in Indian Army.

Arthur Walter Pryde - Indian Army 1917-23 including service in Third Afghan War 1919. Indian Police 1923-47 including service in Bombay and Sind.

Summary: Playback Cassette Side 7: Sind: story to show lack of co-operation between ICS and police; memories of Bhutto family. Partition: security precautions for Mountbatten and Jinnah; transference of Muslim refugees from the Punjab to Sind. Hindu-Muslim tensions in Sukkur before 1947. Hyderabad District Magistrate's order for burning down of Muslim huts. Effect of Pakistan formation on policing; problem of armed tribesmen; impressions of Jinnah.

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 held by British Library

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.

Original sound recording of interview available at British Library Listening & Viewing Service [Reference: C63/76-88]