SIR A.W.

IBBOTSON - A PORTRAIT

Sir Archie William (Ibby) Ibbotson

C.I.E., M.B.E., M.C.
Indian Civil Service, Adviser to His Excellency the Governor of
the United Provinces and lately Secretary to the Government of
India in the Civil Defence Department.

Ibby with his trackers and tiger (c.1925)

Preetum Gheerawo
January 2021
A publication of the Jim Corbett International Research Group

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Author’s Note

M y fascination with and admiration for 'Ibby' originates from the

various references to him in Corbett’s books and was further
nurtured by the latter’s descriptions, hardly between the lines, of Ibby's
exceptional qualities of bravery, gallantry and his compassionate nature; as
well as his dedication and devotion to whatever task he undertook. Many
of my friends, Dr Jordania in particular, wanted to know more about him,
as did members of our research group through our FB Internet page who
were asking questions about Ibby which we could not answer. So, research
was required on Ibby’s life and the results are presented here.
Being a Corbett researcher, I often came across archived newspaper
articles about the Rudraprayag leopard, in which Ibby did not talk about
the action he took against the man-eater but Corbett’s. He was so discrete
and reserved by nature that it is very, very difficult to find more on him
than is written in Corbett’s books as he left only small traces of his life in
the form of isolated memos and letters scattered among the State Archives
of Lucknow and the National Archives in Delhi (one can see that even in
the photographs it is difficult to form a full impression of him as he is more
often obscured than revealed!) Therefore, it was painful, tedious work, and
it took many years before it was possible to write even this brief account of
his life. I hope that this essay might be improved with the help of others
who have more information on Ibby than I have found to date.
I heartily thank my friend and colleague of the Jim Corbett International
Research Group, Dr Joseph Jordania, with whom the idea originated and
for having given me encouragement and help. My warmest gratitude and
appreciation also go towards my friend and fellow Corbett enthusiast,
David Blake, for the help with the research needed to write, and for
editing, this essay; and to William Ibbotson, Ibby’s grandson, for the
photos.

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Introduction

T his brief biography of ‘Ibby’ details something of the life of the

extraordinary man Corbett would introduce to the wider world in his
book Man-Eaters of Kumaon (OUP Bombay, 1944): “…Since that day except
when accompanied by Ibbotson I have made it a hard and fast rule to go alone when
hunting man-eaters…” Readers of this first book by Jim Corbett learned more
about this unique ‘exception’ in its last chapter The Thak man-eater in which
Corbett is full of praise for Ibby: “Of all the men I have been on shikar with,
Ibbotson is by far and away the best, for not only has he the heart of a lion, but he thinks
of everything, and with it all, is the most unselfish man that carries a gun.”Readers
who read to the end of this biographical sketch will see that this
description is both accurate and concise – a characteristic of Corbett's
descriptions. Some years later, Corbett's and Ibbotson's association would
be referred to again in another thrilling account, that of the Man-Eating
Leopard of Rudraprayag (OUP Bombay, 1948), and again in the hunt for the
Chuka Man-Eater (in The Temple Tiger OUP London, 1954).
Many successful (and not so successful!) duos are famous or infamous;
some in crime (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Jesse and Frank
James for instance), many in fiction (Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson or
Father Brown and Flambeau for instance) and some in music (Simon and
Garfunkel or The Righteous Brothers for instance) and musicals (Gilbert
and Sullivan or Rodgers and Hammerstein for instance); but this
association of two real-life heroes – Corbett and Ibbotson – has no match
in its domain. We already know much of Corbett but not of Ibbotson. So,
let us now discover more about him.

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Early Life and Schooling

A rchie William Ibbotson, later ‘Ibby’ to his close relatives and friends,
was born in January 1886 in the village of Knowle in Solihull, county
of Warwickshire (famous for being the birth county of William
Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon) in the West-Midlands of England.
Ibby was the youngest of the three children of Robert Ibbotson (b. 1851)
and Ada (née Wood) Ibbotson (b. 1857), the other two being his elder sister
Winnifred (b.1881) and elder brother Robert Stanley (b.1883).
Ibby was a brilliant student as a young boy for he easily gained admission
in 1896 to the very select King Edward’s School in the nearby city of
Birmingham. This school was, at that time, one of the leading private day-
schools for boys in England and, later, among its most famous ex-pupils
were John Tolkien (author of The Lord of the Rings) and Nobel Prize winners
Maurice Wilkins and John Vane. However, previous to these, and in the
eyes of Corbett fans, King Edward’s School had the honour and privilege
of housing not only the future University of Cambridge’s Senior Wrangler
of 1908 but also Corbett's sterling friend, Archie William Ibbotson!
One of Corbett’s first biographers, D.C. Kala, in his book Jim Corbett of
Kumaon (Delhi 1979) made the easy mistake of describing Ibby’s title of
‘Senior Wrangler’ according to the dictionary definition of ‘keeper/carer
of horses’ and went on to describe Ibby's skills with horses and riding
tackle (since Ibby was almost always seen on a horse while on duty in north
India and, as we shall later see, was trained for warfare in the cavalry,
Kala’s mistake is easily understood). In reality, the most honourable
distinction of Senior Wrangler is given by the University of Cambridge to
the candidate scoring most marks in their first-class honours degree in
Mathematics. Ibby was, in fact, joint Senior Wrangler for Pembroke
College (3rd oldest college of the University of Cambridge), from where he
graduated in 1908. It was a distinction also held, among many others, by
people such as Sir Arthur Eddington, Sir John Herschel and John Strutt
(later Lord Rayleigh), all three brilliant physicists.

Arrival in India
It was with this heavyweight title slung over his shoulder that ‘wrangler’
Ibby embarked at the port of Tilbury, Essex the following year 1909, and
arrived nearly two months later in Bombay, India. Perhaps when applying
for a job at the Civil Service Commission in the UK, Ibby did not know
that he would be posted to the Indian Civil Service (ICS), but however that

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might have been, Ibby would spend the next 35 years or so in the service
of the British Empire in India, for which he would be knighted (to become
‘Sir’) in 1944.
Ibby’s first appointment in India was as Deputy Collector (sometimes
called Assistant Commissioner) for the Pauri-Garhwal district in 1909.
This was the lowest rank in the hierarchy reserved for British officers in the
ICS, while Indians usually took lower ranks. Ibby’s job was mainly to look
after the financial accounts of the complex land-revenue system the British
Administration had put in place about a century earlier, certainly nothing
out of reach of an excellent mathematician like Ibby. His official quarters
were in Pauri (sometimes spelled ‘Powri’) and he had his winter home in
the cantonment of Lansdowne in the same district of Garhwal, where he
would spend most of his holidays.
At the time Ibby arrived in India, and during his first years there, the plains
of India were still heavily plagued with the most virulent forms of malaria.
It was probably only the cool climate of Pauri at an altitude of 5,500 feet,
where Ibby spent his summers, that prevented him being struck down with
that disease in his early years. His job, and those of other British officers of
the ICS, was relatively easy in those years as the Nationalist Movement of
India which called for civil disobedience (usually referred to as
‘satyagraha’) was still some years ahead.

World War I - Africa

Five years later, towards the end of the year 1914, the First World War
took everything by storm and officers of the ICS were among the first to
join the Indian Army Reserve of Officers (IARO). Whether or not this was
compulsory is unknown. Ibby was seconded for duty from the ICS and
enlisted in the IARO and a little later was commissioned as lieutenant of
the 17th Cavalry (East Africa Squadron) when the latter was formed in
January 1915. Ibby’s age at that time (28) was considered ideal for active
service and, while stationed at Allahabad, he and the troops started their
training for warfare.
While Ibby was still in training in Allahabad, the first detachment,
consisting of trained officers and troops were deployed to Mombasa on the
4th of February 1915 with all its horses and mules, and invested the area
south of Nairobi, where the region, between Arusha and Longidi
Mountain (in German East Africa, now Tanzania) up to Kaijado in British
East Africa (now Kenya), was considered a possible German invasion

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route. In March 1916, after the first detachment had suffered heavy losses
to the enemy, Ibby, then a second lieutenant, arrived from India with his
captain, H.S. Stewart, lieutenant A.B. Knowles and reserve troops of the
17th Cavalry, to relieve the first detachment.
The newly deployed detachment was then moved across the British East
African border to Mbuyuni in the east, where there was both a military
railway line branching from the main British Uganda Railway line, and a
British airfield. Ibby and his company participated in active fighting there
during the following months until, in early June 1916, after forcing a dug-
in German line to withdraw, the detachment encountered its most fierce
fight. It was during this fight, at Mkalamo, that Ibby’s company, tasked
with following the enemy, engaged the German rear-guard in thick bush at
short range, and lost Lieutenant A.B. Knowles, who was leading from the
front. Ibby was not wounded in the fight but after it he became second in
command of the detachment.
Depleted though they were, Ibby’s company sustained another five months
of active fighting, defending their lines and making attacks on the German
rear-guard, until they were withdrawn and returned to Morogoro. This
section of the 17th Cavalry had been heroic on the East African front and
counted only 30 fit men plus wounded and 20 horses surviving by the end
of November 1916. Most importantly, they had been successful in their
mission to prevent the possible German invasion into British East Africa.
The remnants of the detachment were then taken back to India by ship on
the 17th December 1916 arriving in Bombay in January 1917. Ibby’s
heroics on the East African front were duly recognised by the British
Crown and he was awarded the Military Cross (M.C.) in February 1917.

Ibby with his .256 Mannlicher

during an elephant beat
(c.1925)

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World War I – Middle East and Europe

Ibby’s recent experience of military tactics for attack and defence in action
on the frontline prompted the military authorities of British India to
entrust him with the task of training troops for campaigns in Middle
Eastern and Eastern European theatres of war. Almost immediately after
returning from East Africa, in April 1917, Ibby was commissioned to be in
charge of training the 18th Lancers at the Sialkot training camp in the
North West Province (now Pakistan). Later that same year in August, Ibby
would also tutor at the Military Staff School in Kashmir, albeit only for a
few months.
Early in January 1918, Ibby was transferred to the Mhow military division
in the Central Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh) as a General Staff Officer
(Grade 1). This rank, usually reserved for a lieutenant colonel or colonel,
was in charge of the general staff and responsible for training, intelligence,
planning operations and directing battles in progress.
News from the Middle East front reported heavy losses of British Indian
troops and Ibby had to return to action in September 1918 to train troops
which were urgently needed as reinforcements for ongoing battles. So, the
13th Mounted Brigade was formed at Gulistan in the North West Province
and, during October and early November 1918, Ibby, as Captain, led this
brigade in successive campaigns in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and in the
North East of Persia (now Iran) as far as Turkestan (now in Kazakhstan).
By November 1918 the war was over and re-organisation and repatriation
of the troops were taking place. Ibby and his troops were diverted to
England but by late April 1919 they boarded ship bound for India. It is not
currently known in what other battles the 13th Mounted Brigade, with Ibby
as captain, were engaged in but, on 4th June 1919, while stationed at
Lucknow and awaiting discharge, Ibby received news of his award of
becoming a “Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” (M.B.E.)
coinciding with birthday honours for King George V. This award was
given to Ibby in recognition of his “valuable services in connection with military
operations in the Balkans”.

Return to the ICS and Marriage

It is possible that Corbett and Ibbotson met just after WWI in Lucknow,
where both were stationed while awaiting their discharge. Corbett refers to
Ibbotson in letters to his sister Maggie from Lucknow in February and
May 1919, prior to being sent to the Waziristan conflict in June that year. It

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is also possible that they met even earlier, during training, in Allahabad.
The connection between these two would have been easily made in a fairly
short period of time as they were both British men (Corbett was ‘domiciled
British’) captaining their respective troops, who both loved hunting and
fishing, and both served the crown with the sternest sense of duty and
earned awards for their services (Corbett received the Volunteer
Decoration, VD). They would become lifelong friends.
Ibby would be discharged from the army and await resumption of his
duties in the ICS. A recommendation (or perhaps more of a sort of details
of achievements and merits) letter was sent from the Chief Military
Secretary to the Indian Civil Service Commission in Delhi to expect and
prepare for Ibby’s return and, in September 1919, Ibby resumed his duties
in the ICS, now promoted to Deputy Commissioner of Lucknow. This
post, an upgrade from the rank of Deputy Collector (or Assistant
Commissioner) was responsible for two main functions: as a Collector
(superior to Deputy Collector) and as a district magistrate, who, under
British Administration, held the civil powers of a magistrate and of head
of police at the same time.

Ibby and Jean during a

hunting trip in the North
West Province (c.1923)

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Another letter dated 4th April 1920, this time from Ibby to the ICS
Commission in Delhi, shows him asking for leave from work ‘for personal
reasons'. This leave was granted, and one possible reason could have been to
meet with Miss Dorothea Jean Yates (who had studied at La Martinière
college (Girls) of Lucknow). Whether this surmise is correct or not, we find
the couple marrying one year later. Ibby had resumed work in August 1920
and from the 15th October 1920 was relieved from his duties as Collector
to officiate only as District Magistrate of Lucknow.
Dorothea Jean Yates was born in India on the 10th January 1900 in the
town of Muzaffurpore in West Bengal Province (the town is situated
nowadays north of Bihar State). Her parents, Clement Reginald Elson
Yates and Louise Caroline Yates, were domiciled British people and it is
thought that her father was a member of the clergy officiating at a
particular church or, possibly, a missionary, his profession being listed as
“Clerk in Holy Orders” in Jean’s birth entry found at the India Office Records
(now in the UK), and in the only other record found, in the entry for the
marriage of Ibby and Jean, the latter’s father's title and name is given as
Reverend Reginald Yates. In due course, Jean would also be referred to in
Corbett's books for being an excellent photographer and a keen angler.
The marriage was held in Naini Tal on the 14th July 1921, and, if one
could find the original marriage certificate, it would be interesting to see
the name of their witness in Naini Tal, where Corbett usually resided
during summers. The Ibbotson couple would settle in Lucknow and later
had two sons, Richard Errol Jeremy and John Michael, both of whom
were born in Lansdowne to where Ibby would return after being
transferred from Lucknow to Garhwal district on the 1st October 1924.

Jean, and toddler son

Richard Errol Jeremy, with
bearer and Ibby’s tiger.
(c.1925)

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The Rudraprayag Leopard

It was in his capacity as Deputy Commissioner of Garhwal that Ibby had
to deal with the menace of the man-eating leopard of Rudraprayag,
which, at the beginning of the year 1925 was at the peak of its reign of
terror across the district, and the number of human kills was mounting
alarmingly as the days were passing. Under constant pressure from the
Governor and members of the United Provinces Legislative Council, Ibby
had to, almost daily, write reports of what was happening to the villagers,
what had to be done and what he was doing to protect them from the
man-eater.
Frustrated by the failures of various amateur shikaris and of the
assortment of other means of capturing or killing the man-eater, Ibby
finally sought help from the Governor of the United Provinces. During the
month of June 1925 Ibby wrote to Michael Keene, then Chief Secretary to
the Government of the United Provinces in Naini Tal to ask him to extend
the official requests for help in exterminating the man-eater to outside the
district (unofficial appeals to sportsmen all over India had been made
through the press).
In his book The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, Corbett tells us how he
overheard Michael Keene's invitations to any of a group of men to hunt
the man-eater being refused. “Next morning I paid Michael Keene a visit and got
all the particulars I wanted. He was not able to tell me exactly where the man-eater was
operating and suggested my going to Rudraprayag and getting in touch with Ibbotson. On
my return home I found a letter from Ibbotson on my table…”
It was suggested above that Corbett and Ibbotson could have first met in
Allahabad or Lucknow. Wherever they met, Ibbotson's letter makes it
probable that Corbett and Ibby knew each other prior to Ibby’s
appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Garhwal.
Without waiting for the Government’s response Ibby took matters into his
own hands and, in August 1925, left Pauri and moved into the
Government Inspection Bungalow at Rudraprayag to actively pursue the
trail of the man-eater. A month or so later, after a few unsuccessful
attempts, Corbett arrived to relieve him. Yet, for the following eight
months or so, Ibby would leave his office in Pauri as frequently as he could
to stay at the Inspection Bungalow at Rudraprayag and assist Corbett in
this dangerous pursuit. Details of the thrilling adventures experienced by
the two comrades in arms, until the man-eater is finally accounted for on
the 1st May 1926, are given in Corbett’s book.

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The Rise of Nationalism in India

During the four years which passed after ridding the district of the most
feared man-eater in modern history, Ibby had been tasked to establish a
‘new settlement’ for the district of Garhwal (‘new settlement’ means new
land tax revenue and tenure systems. Ibby was sometimes referred to as
‘settlement officer’ of Garhwal during this period). During this time Ibby
faced yet another challenge: the rise of the Nationalist Movement of India,
which made this job a very trying one, becoming most difficult in the
months following Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt March of the 12th March 1930.
Even the remotest districts of Garhwal and those along its boundary with
neighbouring Kumaon had been under the influence of the Satyagraha
calls from the Nationalists following Gandhi’s march. The locals were
protesting and stopped paying the land grants tax while the labour force
regularly went on strikes. An influential member of the Congress party, a
satyagrahi as it was termed, had taken quarters in Ranikhet, a hill village
in Kumaon near the Garhwal/Kumaon border and would influence the
people in the villages around, in both districts, to agitate against the British
Administration.
In the area where Corbett went to hunt  the Mohan man-eater in May
1931 (recorded in his 1944 book) he mentions: “There had been some trouble in
the upper villages a short time previously, necessitating the dispatch from Naini Tal of a
small police force…” Ibby, as deputy commissioner of Garhwal had, during
the last months of his tenure, to deal with the satyagrahi from Ranikhet
and their feud continued until Ibby’s term ended on the 30th September
1930. Establishment of the new settlement for Garhwal district was
abandoned.

Alwar State
After a short leave of one month during which Ibby moved his quarters
from Pauri to his home in Lansdowne, another opportunity arose. At the
end of October 1930, the acting Governor George B. Lambert (chief
secretary to Governor Malcolm Hailey), who had succeeded Michael
Keene four years earlier, recommended Ibby to the Central Government in
Delhi, where some posts which carried the highest responsibilities were
vacant.
It was in this context that Ibby’s services in the ICS were lent to the
princely state of Alwar (now in Rajasthan) where he was appointed
Revenue Minister in early 1931. The state of Alwar had supported the war

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effort of the British Administration but from 1920 it had problems of its
own in what was known as the Mewat Rebellion. It was now the turn of
the British Government to return the favour.
In brief, the main problem was that the peasants of the state were opposed
to taxes newly introduced by the penultimate Maharaja of Alwar, Jey
Singh. Alwar's troubled finances coupled with popular agitation and
general revolt, required the British Authorities to act and Ibby, being of the
right calibre and experience for these kinds of situations, was sent to take
over the finances of the state. Ibby also later acted as a special
commissioner when communal riots further threatened the administration
of the state in February1933. This additional task was to look into the
grievances of the locals and to pacify the community. In three and a half
years starting in 1931, Ibby had settled matters in Alwar,  contained and
resolved the rebellion, seen the Maharaja replaced, and restored peace to
the different communities.. Ibby’s successful services as Revenue Minister
and Special Commissioner for the state of Alwar would be recognised by
the Delhi authorities and he would be awarded the “Companion of the Most
Excellent Order of the Indian Empire” (C.I.E) again during the birthday
honours for King George V on the 4th June of 1934.

In the footsteps of Sir Henry Ramsay

Ibby’s return to the ICS after the Alwar experience was again
accompanied by a promotion. This time, he was appointed as District
Commissioner of Kumaon, which encompassed the revenue divisions of
Almora and Naini Tal. This post was uncharacteristically left vacant for a
little more than 10 years after Percy Wyndham’s tenure (1914-1924) and
Ibby took over in January 1935. After less than two years in office in April
1937 Ibby would also be entrusted to take charge of the Garhwal revenue
division as well, taking on the powers of District Commissioner of all the
three revenue divisions, Garhwal, Almora and Naini Tal.
Among the only District Commissioners to take charge of all these three
revenue divisions had been the great Sir Henry Ramsay, remembered as
‘bhagyavidhata’ (fortune changer) by the local population, and nicknamed
‘King of Kumaon’ by the British. Shouldering such a big responsibility
would never be an easy affair, and the only way to maintain a fragile
equilibrium satisfying both the local population and the British
Administration, as Ramsay successfully did, would be to bring in
additional revenues to both parties. The region was rich only in its prime

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‘panchayat’ (meaning local jurisdiction) forests, and so the management of

these forest resources was crucial to achieving this.
As matters stood, the vast panchayat forest tracts during the previous
century in all three districts had declined dramatically and had been a
source of concern for Ibby (previously Ramsay had closed an iron
foundry which would have eventually consumed all the surrounding forests
for its fuel needs). Ibby would first launch a campaign in which he
advocated the “wide extension of the panchayati forests movement” which he
considered his top priority and wrote to the Central Government to that
effect. In response, the Government decided that the charge of Class 1
forests be transferred from the Forest Department to the Revenue
Department of the province, making them Ibby’s responsibility.
In two separate project proposals for forest management that Ibby would
submit to the Government, he underlined the urgent need for their
preservation, as the forests were important for containing floods,
preventing soil erosion and augmenting water supply. In his own words in
one of his papers, Ibby wrote: “If forests could not be preserved, both hills and
plains stand a chance of the fate of Mesopotamia…” Even nowadays, a modern
scholar can find a good reference source in Ibby’s project proposals and the
University of Cambridge has included them in the curriculum for its
South Asian Studies (from where the italicised quotes are taken). In a
circular letter to each of his three deputy commissioners he would write to
ask them to “master the art of managing panchayat forests…”
However, a serious threat was posed to the forest projects with the
appearance of two man-eating tigers on the Indian side of the Sarda river,
at Chuka and Thak respectively, in the year 1938. The labour force,
engaged in felling marked trees of the area, were under direct menace of
the man-eating tigers and work came to a halt. Ibby requested Corbett’s
help with the man-eating tigers and in two very tense and thrilling
accounts given in Corbett’s books, we learn how Corbett and Ibbotson
went after those man-eating big cats until they were both successfully
dispatched in dramatic circumstances, after which work resumed.
The years 1937 to 1939, during which those forest projects were
undertaken, were also marked with the rise of the ‘Quit India Movement’,
another campaign of Indian Nationalism, just before WWII began. In his
books Corbett refrained from writing about the impact of the Nationalist
movement or the calls for independence, but Stephen Alter, in his novel
about Jim Corbett In the Jungles of the Night (Aleph, Delhi 2016) gives some
idea of how the reluctance of the Indian labour force to work for the

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British would have been a significant impediment to the forest

projects.  Despite all the hindrance encountered, the scheme for
commercial timber felling and forest preservation was successfully applied.

World War II
In December 1939, Ibby was called upon to act as adviser to the newly
installed Governor of the Province, Sir Maurice Hallett. Ibby would then
be tasked to advise the Governor in matters pertaining to finance and land
settlement for two full years until early in 1942 when it was recognised how
far Japan had advanced into Burma and that it now posed a real threat to
India. Ibby would be called upon, once again, to serve the Empire, at war,
this time for the formation and preparation of civil defence.
In Behind Jim Corbett’s Stories – Vol.II (2020) in the chapter Notes and
Biographical Sketches by Maggie Corbett, we learn about Corbett’s contribution
to the war effort of British India, first for army welfare work, then in
training troops for living and fighting in the jungle against the Japanese in
Burma, and the role that Sir Maurice Hallett played in it. The latter would
later be a major influence on Corbett to publish his first book, without
which, no doubt, we would not have known of Ibby,  due to his personal
discretion and self-effacement.
At the end of 1941, Sir Maurice Hallett was made aware, through a letter
from an Indian politician, of the possibility of air raids on civilians, and he
subsequently wrote to the Central Government to alert them to the need to
implement measures for Air Raid Protection (ARP). Almost simultaneously
came the bombing of Singapore and the British Indian Government
urgently constituted a Civil Defence Department. In that context, under
recommendation from Sir Maurice Hallett, Ibby was received and
appointed in Delhi as Secretary to the War Department of the
Government of India and, a little later in March 1942, he would be
nominated to act as Director General of the Civil Defence Department.
Ibby immediately recognised the need for further enhancement of civil
defence in India as the threat posed by Japan was mounting. During the
months of April and May 1942 Ibby would send letters and memos to all
the Governors and District Commissioners of the Provinces to inform
them of the imminent possibility of air raids and the need for the
implementation of ARP measures for the local population. On top of this,
Ibby would also be tasked to deal with the threat from the ‘enemy within’;
spies, traitors and would-be-terrorists. These threats were contained, and

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civilian defence measures were successfully implemented. At the end of the

war, official statistics revealed that India’s civilian loss during WWII was
restricted to war-related famine and diseases.

Exit to Africa
In 1944, and after 35 years of service to the British Empire in India, Ibby’s
overall contribution, and his involvement in the Second World War, was
acknowledged by the British Government and he was knighted among
others on the New Year Honours List by King George VI. The award,
since Ibby was in India, was proclaimed at the India Office in Whitehall,
London on the 21st March 1944 and subsequently, Ibby became Sir Archie
William Ibbotson. When WWII was over Ibby retired from the ICS. By the
time the imminence of India’s independence became evident and Lord
Mountbatten was installed as Viceroy early in 1947, Ibby had already left
India for good and settled in British East Africa (BEA).
For reasons which are still unknown, Ibby chose to leave for BEA instead
of either; remaining in India, for his wife was domiciled British by birth or
returning to the UK (his elder son was in the UK studying at Clare
College, University of Cambridge and had been awarded his matriculation
in 1944). Whatever the reasons, we next find Ibby and his family staying in
Nairobi, BEA. When Jim Corbett and his sister Maggie arrived there in
December 1947, Ibby had already bought land in Karen, a suburb of
Nairobi where a large population of Europeans was already
established, and had started constructing a house there..
Ibby offered Corbett and Maggie accommodation in their rented house in
Nairobi, while his old friend went touring around with his sister to find a
suitable home for themselves. In the two volumes of the book Behind Jim
Corbett’s Stories (Logos, Tbilisi 2016; 2020) are details of the meeting of the
two comrades in arms and their further association in investing in a safari
and tourism company, “SafariLand”. Corbett and Ibby’s company would
later earn a high profile for having hosted the crew and assisted in the
logistics for Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s production of the Hollywood film
King Solomon’s Mines of 1949.
Ibby would soon be back in service for the Colonial Government of
Kenya, the new  name (replacing BEA) for  the country which was firmly
established by the early 1950’s. Ibby's appointment in the colony came on
the 30th March 1951 as Collector for Land Acquisition, not an unfamiliar
job for him. Ibby also became chairman for the Kenya Agricultural Board,

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in which capacity he wrote an extensive report for the Marketing of Maize

and other Produce (31st July 1952) and submitted it to the Government. It
is not known if the two appointments were concurrent or consecutive.
Again, it should be mentioned that official papers, letters and reports
written by Ibby to the respective authorities on the management of matters
pertaining to forestry, agrarian and land settlement are still in use and his
name quoted in scholarly papers with their proper references accordingly.
Ibby’s last appointment for service to the Government was as chairman of
the African Teachers Service Board on the 11th August 1953. Later, both
of Ibby’s sons Richard Errol Jeremy and John Michael would also serve the
Colonial Government of Kenya in their respective capacities as Chief
Inspector of Kenya Police (Air Wing) and Lieutenant in the Kenya
Regiment (Territorial Force).

Ibby and Jean with Richard Errol Jeremy after the latter’s
induction in the Royal Air Force (1949)

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1956 – Epilogue

I bby’s first son was an accomplished aircraft pilot and had been in
training with the Royal Air Force (RAF) after which he was
commissioned in the RAF Volunteer Reserve on the 17th November 1949.
Recruited in the Kenya Police Reserve Force on the 1st December 1952, he
was appointed to the Air Wing section on the 2nd May 1955 where he saw
promotion as Chief Inspector at a time when the Mau Mau uprising was
gaining full momentum. Unfortunately and tragically, Richard Errol
Jeremy died in a plane crash while on duty at Embu, about 125km north
east of Nairobi, on the 10th March 1956 and news of his death brought
great distress to Ibby and the family. The young man was survived at that
time by his widow, and young son.
Less than two months after the death of his son, at only 60 years old, Ibby
died on the 2nd May 1956 while still on duty with the African Teachers
Service Board, leaving behind his widow, younger son John Michael,
daughter in law and grandson. It is not known if the death of his son
contributed in some way to Ibby's mental and emotional health and in
some way contributed to his own premature death.
Due to the books of his lifelong friend Jim Corbett, the memory of at least
some of Ibby’s heroics lives on. Due to his thorough, insightful and
prescient work on forest management and conservation, cited by modern-
day scholars, he is helping with the current and ever more dangerous
environmental crisis. Due to his war service he has contributed to
preventing the domination of at least Europe by Germany and Asia by
Japan. Due to his civil service throughout his career he contributed to
health, peace and education among various communities on two
continents. To these records it is hoped this brief but sincere contribution
will be added and that all will remain in the hearts of his fans.

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Bibliography
• Corbett J. Man-Eaters of Kumaon (OUP, London 1952) (First published
Bombay 1944)
• Corbett J. The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag (OUP, New York
1948) (First American Edition)
• Corbett J. The Temple tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon (OUP,
London 1954)
• Kala D.C. Jim Corbett of Kumaon (Penguin, Delhi 2009) (First published
Delhi 1979)
• Booth M. Carpet Sahib – A life of Jim Corbett (Constable, London 1986)
• Gadhvi P. et al. Behind Jim Corbett’s Stories (Logos, Tbilisi 2016)
• Gheerawo P. et al. Behind Jim Corbett’s Stories Vol.2 (Logos, Tbilisi 2020)
• Mittal A.K. British Administration in Kumaon Himalayas – (Mittal, Delhi
1986)
• Negi A.K., Bhatt B.P., Todaria N.P. and Saklani A. The Effects of
Colonialism on Forests and the Local People in the Garhwal Himalaya, India
(Article of International Mountain Society 1997, pp159-168)
• Jackson A., Khan Y., Singh G. (Editors) An Imperial World at War -The
British Empire 1939-1945 (Routledge, Abingdon UK 2016)
• Khan Y. The Raj at War - A people’s history of India’s Second world War
(London 2015)
• Various authors: History and Society in a Popular Rebellion: Mewat, 1920–
1933 (Cambridge Journal, CUP, 2009)
• Alter S. In the Jungles of the Night (Aleph, Delhi 2016)

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References
• India Office Records, British Library, St Pancras, London –Births,
Baptisms and Marriages Registers 1858-1947
• Records of King Edward’s School, Birmingham – Year 1919
• University of Cambridge – Pembroke College Awards – Year 1908
• Indian Military Historical Society – Article by Harry Fecitt M.B.E. T.D –
17th Cavalry in East Africa 1915-1916 (Available also on internet at
Website king-emperor.com)
• National Archives, Delhi - Secretariat of the War Department - official
letters – December 1917 to July 1919
• Ibid. Indian Civil Service Records – United Provinces Government,
Garhwal and Kumaon – official letters, memos and announcements -
Years 1924 to 1939
• B r i t i s h A r m y Wa r D i a r i e s – U K N a t i o n a l A r c h i v e s
(nationalarchives.gov.uk) 17th Cavalry East Africa Squadron 25 July
1915 to 17 December 1916
• The Gazette - UK – Official Public Records – Military Cross Awards –
February 1917
• London Gazette – 4th June 1919 – Awards for Birthday Honours of King
George V
• Ibid. 4th June 1934
• United Province Gazette (also at Lucknow State Archives) – 1st March
1919 – ICS public information - Officers returning from the war
• Ibid. 4th April 1920 – ICS public information - Officers on Leave
(Lucknow)
• The Pioneer Mail Archives (also at Lucknow State Archives) – 15th October
1920 – List of officiating magistrates of the United Province
• Ibid. September 1925 to May 1926 - various articles on the man-eating
leopard of Rudraprayag
• Lucknow State Archives - La Martiniere College (Girls) – Register 1916-19
• Rajasthan District Gazetteer Archives – The Mewat Rebellion and
appointment of A.W. Ibbotson as special commissioner and letter from
A.W. Ibbotson to Charles Watson, Political Secretary, Govt. of India,
Delhi, 4 Feb 1933
• British Library (website: bl.uk) – Final report on the eleventh revenue settlement of
the Garhwal District, 1930 by A. W. Ibbotson. Allahabad, 1933

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• Ibid. Letter from A.W. Ibbotson to D.C.’s N.C. Stiffe and G.L. Vivian – 1st
March 1935
• Ibid. United Province ICS Officers’ Records - December 1921 to May
1923
• London Gazette Supplement – 21 March 1944 – New Year Honours
Award (continued)
• University of Cambridge – Clare College Alumni – Matriculation Records
for the years 1944 and 1948 (Richard Errol Jeremy and John Michael
Ibbotson)
• Royal Air Force – Records of The Territorial Air Force 1925-1957 – RAF
Volunteer Reserve list
• Kenya Gazette – Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (British East Africa) –
Government Records – Years 1950 to 1956

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