Philip Mason

Philip Mason (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). 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 Deputy Commissioner at 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