Description

Small Collections Box 17

Papers of Mrs Kits M. Mullan. She was born in Ireland in 1906 and at the age of eighteen married K.M. Mullan, I.C.S. She went straight to Shillong, Assam where her husband was an Under-Secretary to Government. He was later to hold various Deputy Commissionerships in the Province. In 1930 he became Provincial Census Superintendent and in 1933 Commissioner of Excise. In 1937 Mr Mullan was appointed Secretary of the Education and Local Self-Government Departments of the Government of Assam.

In 1938 Mr Mullan joined the Government of India Finance pool which entailed short periods in Bombay, Madras and Lucknow. His war years were served as Commissioner of Income Tax, Bengal and as a member of the Central Board of Revenue in Delhi from 1941.

Items given by Mrs Daphne Reid (niece).

1. Memoir by Mrs Mullan entitled ‘Sands of the desert’. Mrs Mullan describes life as a young bride in Assam – learning the language, equipping and managing a house. There was a busy social life and, in time, four children to bring up. As her husband progressed through various I.C.S. posts they found themselves in different parts of the state. There is some description of the Assam tea plantations and how they were run. When her husband joined the Government of India Finance Pool she joined him in short stays in Madras and then in Lucknow. From Lucknow they toured extensively in the United Provinces and Central Provinces until they left for leave in England in July 1939. Mrs Mullan and the children did not return to India with her husband when war was declared and did not see him again for more than five years. 118pp (pp.68-9 missing), Xerox.