THE RARE BURMA POLICE MEDAL FOR GALLANTRY, INDIAN GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL AND WW2 CAMPAIGN GROUP TO COMMISSIONER OF POLICE (LATER DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT) WILLIAM H. TYDD, BURMA POLICE, WHO WAS AWARDED THE BURMA POLICE MEDAL FOR "COURAGE AND UNTIRING DEVOTION TO DUTY UNDER THE MOST TRYING AND DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES" DURING THE RANGOON RIOTS OF 1938.
DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, FOLLOWING THE JAPANESE INVASION OF BURMA, TYDD MADE HIS WAY OVERLAND TO INDIA ON FOOT. AFTER ARRIVING IN INDIA HE WAS COMMISSIONED 2ND LIEUTENANT (MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER) WITH THE INDIAN ARMY.
DURING THE POST-WAR YEARS TYDD SAW SERVICE AS LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, ALLIED CONTROL COMMISSION, GERMANY, 1946, AND AS A 2ND LIEUTENANT WITH THE LANSING TRAINING CORPS CONTINGENT, 1947.
ONLY 141 BURMA POLICE MEDALS AWARDED, OF WHICH 88 WERE AWARDED FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE AND 53 FOR GALLANTRY; TYDD'S BURMA POLICE MEDAL BEING ONE OF ONLY FIVE GALLANTRY AWARDS TO EUROPEAN OFFICERS, THE OTHER 48 GALLANTRY MEDALS BEING AWARDED TO NATIVE OFFICERS AND CONSTABLES.
WILLIAM TYDD WAS THE ONLY MEMBER OF THE BURMA POLICE TO PUBLISH A FACTUAL, BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF HIS CAREER WITH THE FORCE. THOSE REMINISCENCES, "PEACOCK DREAMS", COVERING THE PERIOD 1929-1946, WHICH INCLUDE A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE PART THAT TYDD PLAYED IN THE SUPPRESSION OF THE 1938 RANGOON RIOTS, WERE PUBLISHED BY THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR CEMETERIES IN SOUTH ASIA (BACSA) IN 1986.
A COPY OF THAT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ACCOMPANIES WILLIAM TYDD'S MEDAL GROUP.
Six: India General Service Medal 1908, 1 clasp, Burma 1930-32 (officially named, impressed in plain block capitals: ASST. SUPDT. W.H. TYDD, POLICE DEPT.); 1939-45 and Burma Stars, 1939-45 Defence and War Medals (last four medals unnamed, as issued); Burma Police Medal, George VI (officially named, engraved in serifed block capitals: WILLIAM H. TYDD, ASST. COMMR. POLICE. RANGOON.).
Mounted loose style, as worn, generally Almost Extremely Fine.
With a ribbon bar and a set of dress miniature medals, the miniatures Almost Extremely Fine and better, mounted loose style, as worn.
Group accompanied by copied extract Burma Gazette, 6th January 1940 (Burma Police Medal citation), along with copied extract 1939 History of Services of Gazetted Officers, Government of Burma, extracts Burma Civil List, 1938-1942, extract 1947 India Office and Burma Office list and extracts London Gazettes of the period.
William Henry Tydd (1908-2000) was born 12/11/1908 in West Bengal, India, the son of Walther Brownlow Tydd (1864-1914), Burma Provincial Civil Service.
He first saw service with the Burma Police at the Mandalay Police Training School as an Assistant District Superintendent of Police (on probation) from 7/12/1929. Tydd graduated from the Police Training School on 2/1/1931, remaining in Mandalay for another 6 weeks, transferred to Tharrawaddy, still undergoing training, on 14/2/1931, subsequently transferred back to Mandalay (still undergoing training) on 17/7/1931, from where Tydd transferred to Thayetmyo (training) and to Insein on 10/9/1931, still undergoing training. Tydd was confirmed as an Assistant Superintendent of Police with effect from 3/12/1931, and was posted to Pyu (Nyaunglebin Subdivision) on 15/12/1931. He transferred to Myitkyina on 29/3/1933, and to Rangoon on 1/4/1934, as Assistant Superintendent, Western Division. Still based in Rangoon, Tydd was appointed Superintendent Central Division, 7/7/1934, District Superintendent of Police, River Division, 15/1/1936, and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Rangoon, on 19/5/1938. Tydd transferred back to the River Division as a District Superintendent of Police on 23/3/1939, continuing in that post until the Japanese invasion of Burma and the fall of Rangoon in February 1942.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the Japanese invasion of Burma and the fall of Rangoon in February 1942, Tydd made his way overland to India on foot, via the fever infested Kabaw valley to Imphal, which he finally reached after a lengthy trek on 9th May 1942. In India Tydd was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Indian Army, 19/10/1942, and saw service as an Intelligence Officer with the Indian Army prior to and during the re-conquest of Burma. After seeing service with the Indian Army Tydd returned to Burma, and again saw service with the Burma Police, 1945-46.
In the post-war years, after returning to Britain, Tydd was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, Allied Control Commission, Germany, 1946 and subsequently 2nd Lieutenant, Lansing College Contingent, Junior Training Corps, 19/3/1947.
The Tydd family archive, papers, correspondence and photographs, is held in the National Archives, Kew (reference MSS EUR PHOTO EUR 213). The archive includes a selection of photographs taken in Burma circa 1900-1912 by Tydd's father, Walther Brownlow Tydd (1864-1914), Burma Provincial Civil Service.
Another Burma Police officer who put pen to paper with regard to his experiences in Burma was Eric Blair (George Orwell), who served with the Burma Police 1922-28, being discharged medically unfit from the Burma Police a year before Tydd joined the force. Unlike Tydd, however, Orwell used his experiences of Burma to write a novel, "Burmese Days", the contents of which add little to our understanding of policing in Burma. Orwell's novel being written as a piece of left-wing political propaganda, 1920s anti-imperial "agit-prop", William Tydd's "Peacock Dreams" is, as a result, a far more important document historically. A balanced and detailed account of his real-life experiences as an officer in the Burma Police 1929-1946. As Sir William Gladstone notes in his Foreward to Tydd's biographical sketch, "Peacock Dreams"
"He paints the scene and tells his story; and there are many things to entertain and delight the reader; yet what emerges is a very subtle and indeed profound understanding of a complex and fascinating interaction of societies and systems in British Burma."
The recommendation for Tydd's Burma Police Medal was published in the Burma Gazette of 6/1/1940 -
"Mr. William Henry Tydd, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Rangoon. Mr Tydd was appointed to the Burma Police in 1929 and was promoted to officiate as District Superindendant of Police in 1936. While in charge of the River Division, Rangoon, Mr Tydd re-organised the Port Police and increased their efficiency very considerably. During the 1938 disturbances in Rangoon, Mr Tydd carried out his duties as Assistant Commissioner of Police with courage and untiring devotion to duty under the most trying and difficult circumstances."
The 1938 Rangoon Riots, which began on 26th July 1938, were a series of anti-Muslim violent disorders provoked by the publication of an anti-Buddhist book, "The Abode of the Nats" by a Burmese Muslim. That anti-Buddhist text, which was published on 14th July 1938, led to a mass demonstration by 10,000 Burmese on 26th July, which quickly escalated into widespread mob violence directed at the ex-patriot Indian muslim community in Burma. The riots, which lasted for until December 1938 resulted in over 1,200 casualties, including 204 deaths.
