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	{{about\|the English civil servant and writer\|the American archivist\|Philip P. Mason\|the English scientist and atheism activist\|Phil Mason}}		{{about\|the English civil servant and writer\|the American archivist\|Philip P. Mason\|the English scientist and atheism activist\|Phil Mason}}

	'''Philip Mason''' {{post-nominals\|country=GBR\|OBE\|CIE}} (19 March 1906 – 25 January 1999) was an English civil servant and ~~author~~. He is best known for his two-volume book on the [[British Raj]], ''The Men Who Ruled India'' (written under the pseudonym 'Philip Woodruff', the latter being his mother's maiden name), and his study of the Indian Army, ''A Matter of Honour'' (1974).<ref>[[Ferdinand Mount]], ''The Tears of the Rajas'' (2016) p. 76 and p. 568</ref>		'''Philip Mason''' {{post-nominals\|country=GBR\|OBE\|CIE}} (19 March 1906 – 25 January 1999) was an English civil servant and writer. He is best known for his two-volume book on the [[British Raj]], ''The Men Who Ruled India'' (written under the pseudonym 'Philip Woodruff', the latter being his mother's maiden name), and his study of the Indian Army, ''A Matter of Honour'' (1974).<ref>[[Ferdinand Mount]], ''The Tears of the Rajas'' (2016) p. 76 and p. 568</ref>

	==Early life and education==		==Early life and education==
	Philip Mason was one of three children- two sons and a daughter- of Herbert Alfred Mason (1876–1968), a [[general practitioner]] at [[Duffield, Derbyshire\|Duffield]], Derbyshire, and his wife Ethel Addison (1880–1956), daughter of Herbert Addison Woodruff, an engineer and manager of a [[Cammell Laird]] steel factory.<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 3</ref><ref>{{Cite web \| url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/abstract/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-71993?rskey=KL9qxQ&result=1 \| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/71993\| title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography\| year=2004}}</ref> The Mason family had been farmers for several generations at [[Barrowden]] in [[Rutland]], [[East Midlands]]; his great-grandfather Henry brewed beer and sold malting barley to brewers, and his grandfather George Mason "grew first-class malting barley and reared Leicester lambs".<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 3, 8</ref> On the basis that "Woodruff" struck him as "a prettier, a more unusual, and a more romantic name than plain ordinary Mason", he "decided very early to be Philip Woodruff Mason and was known by that name until (he) was thirteen and had to produce a birth certificate."<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 4</ref>		Philip Mason was one of three children- two sons and a daughter- of Herbert Alfred Mason (1876–1968), a [[general practitioner]] at [[Duffield, Derbyshire\|Duffield]], Derbyshire, and his wife Ethel Addison (1880–1956), daughter of Herbert Addison Woodruff, an engineer and manager of a [[Cammell Laird]] steel factory.<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 3</ref><ref>{{Cite web \| url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/abstract/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-71993?rskey=KL9qxQ&result=1 \| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/71993\| title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography\| year=2004}}</ref> The Mason family had been farmers for several generations at [[Barrowden]] in [[Rutland]], [[East Midlands]]; his great-grandfather Henry brewed beer and sold malting barley to brewers, and his grandfather George Mason "grew first-class malting barley and reared Leicester lambs".<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 3, 8</ref> On the basis that "Woodruff" struck him as "a prettier, a more unusual, and a more romantic name than plain ordinary Mason", he "decided very early to be Philip Woodruff Mason and was known by that name until (he) was thirteen and had to produce a birth certificate."<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 4</ref>

	Mason was educated at [[Sedbergh School]] and [[Balliol College, Oxford]], taking a first-class degree in [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics\|Modern Greats]].<ref name="guardian">{{Cite news \| url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/feb/03/guardianobituaries1 \|title = Philip Mason obituary\|work = The Guardian\|date = 3 February 1999\|last1 = Tinker\|first1 =Hugh}}</ref> In 1978 he published a volume of autobiography, ''A Shaft of Sunlight: memories of a varied life'' (Deutsch, {{ISBN\|0233969551}}), and in 1984 a sequel, ''A Thread of Silk''.<ref name="roland">{{cite news \|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-philip-mason-1068169.html \|title=Obituary: Philip Mason \|last=Olive \|first=Roland \|date=2 February 1999 \|work=[[The Independent]] \|accessdate=1 October 2012}}</ref>		Mason was educated at [[Sedbergh School]] and [[Balliol College, Oxford]], taking a first-class degree in [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics\|Modern Greats]].<ref name="guardian">{{Cite news \| url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/feb/03/guardianobituaries1 \|title = Philip Mason obituary\|work = The Guardian\|date = 3 February 1999\|last1 = Tinker\|first1 =Hugh}}</ref> In 1978 he published a volume of autobiography, ''A Shaft of Sunlight: memories of a varied life'' (Deutsch, {{ISBN\|0233969551}}), and in 1984 a sequel, ''A Thread of Silk''.<ref name="roland">{{cite news \|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-philip-mason-1068169.html \|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-philip-mason-1068169.html \|archive-date=26 May 2022 \|url-access=subscription \|url-status=live \|title=Obituary: Philip Mason \|last=Olive \|first=Roland \|date=2 February 1999 \|work=[[The Independent]] \|accessdate=1 October 2012}}</ref>

	==Career with the Indian Civil Service==		==Career with the Indian Civil Service==

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{{about|the English civil servant and writer|the American archivist|Philip P. Mason|the English scientist and atheism activist|Phil Mason}}

'''Philip Mason''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|CIE}} (19 March 1906 – 25 January 1999) was an English civil servant and author. He is best known for his two-volume book on the [[British Raj]], ''The Men Who Ruled India'' (written under the pseudonym 'Philip Woodruff', the latter being his mother's maiden name), and his study of the Indian Army, ''A Matter of Honour'' (1974).<ref>[[Ferdinand Mount]], ''The Tears of the Rajas'' (2016) p. 76 and p. 568</ref>

==Early life and education==
Philip Mason was one of three children- two sons and a daughter- of Herbert Alfred Mason (1876–1968), a [[general practitioner]] at [[Duffield, Derbyshire|Duffield]], Derbyshire, and his wife Ethel Addison (1880–1956), daughter of Herbert Addison Woodruff, an engineer and manager of a [[Cammell Laird]] steel factory.<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 3</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/abstract/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-71993?rskey=KL9qxQ&result=1 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/71993| title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography| year=2004}}</ref> The Mason family had been farmers for several generations at [[Barrowden]] in [[Rutland]], [[East Midlands]]; his great-grandfather Henry brewed beer and sold malting barley to brewers, and his grandfather George Mason "grew first-class malting barley and reared Leicester lambs".<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 3, 8</ref> On the basis that "Woodruff" struck him as "a prettier, a more unusual, and a more romantic name than plain ordinary Mason", he "decided very early to be Philip Woodruff Mason and was known by that name until (he) was thirteen and had to produce a birth certificate."<ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 4</ref>

Mason was educated at [[Sedbergh School]] and [[Balliol College, Oxford]], taking a first-class degree in [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics|Modern Greats]].<ref name="guardian">{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/feb/03/guardianobituaries1 |title = Philip Mason obituary|work = The Guardian|date = 3 February 1999|last1 = Tinker|first1 =Hugh}}</ref> In 1978 he published a volume of autobiography, ''A Shaft of Sunlight: memories of a varied life'' (Deutsch, {{ISBN|0233969551}}), and in 1984 a sequel, ''A Thread of Silk''.<ref name="roland">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-philip-mason-1068169.html |title=Obituary: Philip Mason |last=Olive |first=Roland |date=2 February 1999 |work=[[The Independent]] |accessdate=1 October 2012}}</ref>

==Career with the Indian Civil Service==
Mason worked for the [[Indian Civil Service]] from 1928 to 1947. He was an under-secretary in the War Department from 1933 to 1936, in that year being appointed [[District magistrate (India)|Deputy Commissioner]] at [[Garhwal District|Garhwal]] and remaining in this position until 1939. During the [[Second World War]], he held appointments in the Defence and War Departments at Delhi (Deputy Secretary, Defence Co-ordination and War Departments 1939–42; Secretary of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, India and Head of Conference Secretary, South-East Asia Command 1942-4, Joint Secretary, War Department 1944-7), retiring in 1947 intending to take up farming.<ref>A Raj Collection, ed. Saros Cowasjee, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 1023</ref><ref name="guardian"/>

==Race and decolonisation==
With his farming efforts, even supplemented by the income from his writing, proving insufficiently remunerative for the needs of his growing family, Mason took the part-time position as the first Director of Studies of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at [[Chatham House]], serving in this capacity from 1952 to 1958.<ref name="roland"/><ref>A. Vaughan, ''Shakespeare's Caliban'' (1991) p. 160-1</ref> Mason's role was to both undertake research and seek out scholarly work on disciplines relating to racial problems; he first went to [[Southern Rhodesia]], at the time when it was embarking upon a union with [[Northern Rhodesia]] and [[Nyasaland]]. Three volumes- The Birth of a Dilemma (1958), The Two Nations, and The Year of Decision (the second undertaken by a junior colleague, but the first and third by Mason)- resulted from this research. By 1958, his position at Chatham House translated into directorship of the independent UK [[Institute of Race Relations (United Kingdom)|Institute of Race Relations]]; during this time, Mason focused on Latin America, producing Patterns in Dominance (1970), the last book he wrote before retiring in 1969.<ref name="roland"/>

Mason was strongly influenced by [[Octave Mannoni]]'s use of ''The Tempest'' to illuminate the [[Colonization|colonial situation]]- Prospero as imperialist- and in his own book of 1962, ''Prospero's Magic: Some Thoughts on Race and Colour'', he extended Mannoni's symbolism to cover the Third World in general, noting how "in my country until a generation ago we liked Prospero...some of us are beginning not to like him".<ref>Quoted in A. Vaughan, ''Shakespeare's Caliban'' (1991) p. 162</ref>

==Marriage and later life==
In retirement, Mason wrote nine more books, before encroaching blindness ended his literary endeavours (he had previously suffered temporary blindness in 1941 after a shooting accident). These works included a biography of [[Rudyard Kipling]] and two autobiographical volumes.<ref name="roland"/>

In 1935, Mason had married (Eileen) Mary, daughter of Courtenay Hayes, of [[Charmouth]], Dorset and niece of senior Indian Army officer Major-General [[William Twiss (Indian Army officer)|William Twiss]]. They had two sons and two daughters.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-180324;jsessionid=D4FC42221FAAFC985F4B4F953FB50E9D |title = Mason, Philip, (19 March 1906 – 25 January 1999), writer | Who's WHO & WHO WAS WHO}}</ref><ref>A Shaft of Sunlight, Philip Mason, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1978, p. 123</ref> Mason lived at Mulberry House, Church Street, [[Fordingbridge]], Hampshire{{cn|date=September 2019}} (formerly at Hither Daggons, Brock's Hill, [[Cripplestyle]], in the parish of [[Alderholt]], near Fordingbridge),<ref name="debrett">Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, 1973, Kelly's Directories, p. 2839</ref> where he died.<ref name="guardian"/><ref>A Thread of Silk: Further Memories of a Varied Life, Philip Mason, M. Russell, 1984, p. 188</ref> He had been created OBE in 1942, and CIE in 1946.<ref name="debrett"/>

==See also==
*[[Wind of Change (speech)|Wind of Change]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=193-104&cid=-1#-1 Documents about the History of the Institute of Race Relations written by Philip Mason] can be found at the [[Borthwick Institute for Archives|Borthwick Institute, University of York]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Philip}}
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Economic history of India]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Institute directors]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:20th-century British historians]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:People educated at Sedbergh School]]

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