Description
Mrs Iris Portal.
I.C.S. Army. Rajputana, Punjab, C.P., Bombay, Hyderabad State. 1905-1911; 1922-1942.
- Memoir: ‘Song at Seventy’ by Mrs Portal. 180 ff.
Memoir of a childhood in India with her parents, Sir Montagu and Lady Butler. When her husband was appointed Commanding Officer of the Governor’s Bodyguard in Bombay, she was able to do welfare work amongst the soldiers’ wives and families. Later, when her husband was made Comptroller of the Household of the younger son of the Nizam of Hyderabad, she had a unique opportunity of becoming acquainted with the princesses and other women in the Hyderabad court. During the War she helped, as an auxiliary nurse, in the Salvation Army Hospital in Ahmednagar and later in the Military Hospital in Ranchi. Her tale is illuminated by pieces of historical information.
- Article from Country Life, 1 December 1977, The Sahibs at play with sketches by Kate Farran. The article is based on scrap-book’s made up of illustrations of Indian Army life drawn and painted by Miss Farran (later Mrs. Dyer) before 1914. Mrs. Portal comments on the style of life which had not changed after the First World War when she was in India.
