From Mr A. F. Huntley, MRPharmS
SIR,—Once again you have excelled yourselves, namely, with your Christmas issue.
As one who worked in No 7 RAF Hospital, Aden, a few years before your correspondent Mr I. C. Taylor (PJ, December 18/25, 1999, p1018). I found his article both interesting and informative, especially as regards his exploits with the APL (Aden Protectorate Levies), a unique outfit run by the RAF Regiment. I envy his sorties into the interior of the protectorate and for myself had to be content for a while with a temporary posting to Eritrea.
However, in relation to the status of Aden, I am in possession of documentation bearing a publishers imprint of 1945 and emanating from Aden Port Trust and from the Royal Air Force which does not concur with the statement that "Aden was administered as an outpost of the Indian Empire until 1948". My documentation indicates that Aden was transferred from the Bombay Presidency to the Colonial Office on April 1, 1937, and that, in 1937, Aden ceased to be part of British India and became a colony under a Governor and Commander in Chief (a combined post).
Great Britain was already looking to the Indian partition débâcle of 1947.
A. F. Huntley
Bristol