ABSTRACT

INTERVIEWEE NAMES: H.P. and Margery Hall, John Shattock

COLLECTION: Halls: 4700.581; Shattock 4700.583

IDENTIFICATION: Britons in pre-Independence India

INTERVIEWER: Frank De Caro, Rosan Jordan

PROJECT: British Voices in South Asia

DATES: 3/1/78 FOCUS DATES: 1930s

Tape 849, Side A

bad feeling about house, turned out it had been inhabited by Gestapo, Japanese; Japanese occupation of Borneo, damage to North Borneo; consecration of cathedral in Borneo, Chinese bishop; string of heads in a Borneo long house; son of headman ordained, buried heads in consecrated burial ground; houses on stilts; visiting Borneo woman who adapted Aladylike@ role of upperclass British women; clothes worn in Borneo; water source used for many purposes; people=s opinions on Malaysia=s future; Brunei revolt; threat of a take over by Sukarno, thought he=d go after Borneo next; Malaysian politics; Hall trying to prevent Indonesian take over of Malaysia; explanation of Brunei revolt, failed attempt to capture sultan; drunkard who was involved in revolt; troops flown in from Singapore, rebellion contained; Indonesian terrorists; comparison to Vietnam; came home to London in 1963, persuaded British government of his plan for Malaysia; helping locals in Malaysia through health care and improving water supply; program to win hearts and minds of Malaysians; British worked in teams of four, medical, communications and weapons experts; West Irian situation; North Borneo Company; relationship between North Borneo Company and British government; British government took over after war; Roger Books Company in Sarawak before war; exports of timber, lumber, pepper; first governor of Sarawak was assassinated; had to cross river in boat to go to dinner at Books palace; witnessing rapid change come to a primitive society; widespread corruption; Margery=s worked in Borneo hospital; white Anglo Indian shopkeepers who were too poor to keep up any standards; Halls mostly lived in out of the way places where there were few whites; Hall=s positions, promotions; abbreviation XOS, meant extra large; importance of rank, status, relationships with people of higher rank; dressing formally for dinner; bearers helped you dress, drew baths; high ranking man who supposedly traveled with blue silk sheets; playing tug of war, led to riot, one man killed; frightening riots in Quetta; never heard of a Muslim or Hindu asking a European for shelter during a riot; surprised that religious riots never turned on British; religious factors in job advancement; bitterness, slaughter, caused by religion; honorary titles given by government, man who wanted to be consul; whiskey; rationing of petrol; murder cases he tried; ritual murder allowed, could kill old woman for talking to stranger; Hall had to determine if cases were genuine ritual murders or just regular illegal murders; murder case of chief=s daughter who=d become pregnant outside marriage; case where body picked out of canal.

mayhem at their post; marriage between locals, woman wanted annulment; parents returning from India; beauty of India; Associated States of West Indies set up in 1967; political race on island of Anguilla; Miss Anguilla beauty queen contest, rioting; attempts to capture rioters; Hill=s mediation of rioters; addressing the rioters= concerns; more commotion a few months later, attempt to eject police force; associated statehood festivities; trouble between political parties; Hall met with governor of Bermuda in Barbados; stayed in sleazy waterfront hotel in Barbados; huge demonstration at airport; Hall had to speak to crowd on public address system; Hall met with both political parties; Hall put on Bermuda assassination list; trouble getting a flight out; Hall was confident he wouldn=t be assassinated; got used to the danger of being shot, but thought no one had the guts; J. S. H. Shattock was son of poor clergyman, had exceptionally wealthy godfather who was in tea business in Ceylon; trying to get job from godfather; went to Oxford instead; family connections to India, government in Bengal, railways; entered civil service, chose India on advice of a professor; year of preparation for service in India; posted to Bengal, learned Bengali; horse riding examination; had to pass horse riding and language tests to get pay raise; buying clothes for India; evening wear in Bengal; sailed on the Viceroy of India, took train to Calcutta; staying at United Services Club in Calcutta; assigned a very old Mohammed as his personal bearer; bearer expected to dress and undress him; arrived in India in 1931; expectations versus reality of India; district he was posted to; Shattock and another young man sent there to be trained together, duties; rampant terrorism, magistrates being assassinated; his manager was a target for the terrorists; Shattock warned to buy a revolver in Calcutta before arriving at post; Shattock=s magistrate; Shattock enjoyed duties tramping around countryside, meeting people; Shattock assigned to work under an Indian official and live with an Indian junior magistrate; considered unusual to live with an Indian, but learned a lot; career of Indian roommate; learned all about private lives of Indians; eating food with hands; believes Indians and British could live happily together; work-related duties.