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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [34r] (67/336)
The record is made up of 1 volume (168 folios). It was created in 1982?. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
32
with a gold watch and a small gold dagger and cloaks and headcloths.
When the time for my last interview with Ibn Baud approached I drove
alone to the palace where I had arranged to meet Rushdi. Re took me to
see the Amir Baud whose cold had much improved and we talked of the
Pilgrimage and the Duke of Hamilton’s seat in Scotland what time we drank
sherbets and little glasses of hot tea. Rushdi, who had been sitting
quietly in a corner lost in thought, suddenly announced that the King was
ready to receive me so I said goodbye to His Poyal Highness who was very
cordial and followed Rushdi along the now familiar route crowded with
officials, soldiers, bedouin, servants and supplicants to the audience
chamber. Ibn Baud was in his usual seat in the far comer. At his
direction I took the seat on his right and then my servants Naser and
Adas came in and, kissing his hand, took leave. They were followed by a
clerk who hurried in with some letters for signature and I waited fof-
him to deal with them, but as he paid no attention to the clerk and con
tinued to look at me, I thought he was waiting for me to speak before
dealing with his correspondence, so formally I his permission to
return to Kuwait. His Majesty made no reply and continued to stare at me
as if he had not heard or understood what I had said. I tried again with
precisely the same result. This was most unnerving and hastily I
reviewed in my mind what I had said but could not discover any serious
mistake in my Arabic, so with some trepidation I made a third attempt and
waited anxiously for the reaction. For a moment the sam& fijcadllO*^ aad
continued silence; then, suddenly, his expressio’ changed and vit? <K
smile his mind seemed to come back to the present and he was gracious
ness itself. I thanked him for his kindness and the personal gifts by
which I and my followers had been so much honoured. He brushed my thanks
aside saying the gifts were just something unimportant to remember him by
and entrusting me with personal messages to the Sheikh of Kuwait and his
old friend Colonel Dickson, he rose and I took leave and left the room
with the clerk still waiting with the letters requiring the royal
approval.
Twitchell and some of the Americans from A1 Karaj joined me at lunch in
the Guest House and were, it transpired, on their way to Dharan. I had
myself been considering driving down to Dharan via Haiwat from Riyadh
and mentioned this thought of mine. The response was distinctly chilly
About this item
- Content
This volume is a set of typewritten memoirs by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, a retired officer of the British Indian Army and the Indian Political Service The branch of the British Government of India with responsibility for managing political relations between British-ruled India and its surrounding states, and by extension the Gulf, during the period 1937-47. . Hickinbotham held various positions in India and in the Middle East, and these memoirs recount stories from his time in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Quetta, Persia [Iran], Aden, Audhali, Bahrain and North Waziristan.
The memoirs were most likely completed in 1982-83; they cover the period 1927-1982, although most of the chapters relate to events from the 1930s and 1940s.
Hickinbotham writes not only about his official duties but also about various trips taken during periods of leave. Below is a list of the chapters, with a short summary of each:
- 'No Medals This Time' (ff 3-6) – details of an incident in Kuwait involving a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. that caught fire off the foreshore at Shuwaik [Ash Shuwaykh]
- 'The Silver Coin' (ff 7-10) – thoughts on the use of the Maria Theresa thaler in Arabia
- 'The Golden Dagger' (ff 11-36) – an account of Hickinbotham's unofficial visit to Riyadh to meet Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] in May 1942
- 'The Brass Pencase' (ff 37-53) – memories of a journey undertaken from Quetta to Europe via north Persia in 1927, travelling in a Fiat Tourer with Colonel T Nisbet (also referred to as the 'purple emperor'), on what Hickinbotham claims to have been the first trip taken by car from India to the Mediterranean
- 'The Bronze Boy' (ff 54-72) – reminiscences of weekends spent in 'Little Aden' (a rocky peninsula seven miles west of Aden), in 1938, and a later visit, in December 1961
- 'The Silver Letter Case' (ff 73-118) – details of a ten-day trip on the Audhali plateau in the summer of 1938, and a return visit, in December 1960 (the chapter ends with remarks on the situation in Yemen generally from the late sixties to the time of writing, i.e. 1982)
- 'The Agate Ring' (ff 119-144) – memories of travelling in Oman during the summer of 1940 and how this compared with Hickinbotham's last visit to the country in 1980
- 'The Pearl Tie Pin' (ff 145-151) – thoughts and anecdotes on the pearl trade in Bahrain
- 'A Point of View' (ff 152-157) – a story told to Hickinbotham, possibly fictional, of a pearl trader in the Gulf who lost his fortune and livelihood, and eventually his sanity
- 'Snakes Alive!!' (ff 158-161) – an account of a near-fatal encounter with a krite [krait] in Waziristan
- 'The Queen's Visit' (ff 162-168) – memories of the Queen's visit to the Aden Protectorate in 1954, where Hickinbotham was serving as Governor.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (168 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume contains an index of chapter headings on folio 2, which includes some handwritten corrections and annotations.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 168; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional mixed foliation/pagination sequence is also present in parallel between ff 3-168.
Condition: The original plastic comb binding ring has been replaced with a wider one to facilitate flat opening of the volume. Polyester film covers have been added to protect the first and last folios.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [34r] (67/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/get-highlighted-words/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x000044> [accessed 31 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F226/13
- Title
- '"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE'
- Pages
- 1r:168v
- Author
- Hickinbotham, Sir Tom
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.