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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [45r] (89/336)
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.
to the Consulate-General. Passing through the gate-house archway we found
ourselves in a paradise of lovely spring flowers with green lawns and magni-
ficant great shady trees. The house itself was a large double-storied,
white building with a wide verandah running around the ground floor with
tail, slender, white columns. The Nisbets and Hutchins'stayed with the
Consul-General, Colonel H Biscoe, CIE, who later, as Sir Hugh Biscoe, KCIE,
after he had become Resident in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
, was to die of a heart-
<c
attack on board on of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Sloops off the town of Sharjah on
what was then called the
Trucial Coast
A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates.
of Oman and is now the United Arab
Emirates. Bill and I were the guests of Major Wheeler, the Military
Attache, in a very comfortable house in another part of the garden.
Wheeler was probably the finest linguist that the Indian Services have ever
produced and was to go far in his special intelligence work, being knighted
for his outstanding service before we left India in 1947. After a much
needed bath in a curious earthen-ware vessel, I was feeling on top of the
world as I entered Wheeler’s drawing room and found the guests for the din
ner party he had arranged already assembled. Besides three bankers and
their wives and the Indian Medical Service surgeon, there was a White
Russian lady. At that time there were a number of White Russian families
living in Mushed and I remember being astonished at the linguistic ability
of everyone present except Bill and myself. The Russian lady did not speak
English, but this was no handicap as everyone else seemed able to speak
Russian fluently.
The next day I was kept busy in the morning cleaning the car while Bill was
engaged in the messy business of greasing and oiling, and the Colonel was
with the Consul-General on whom the Persian Governor—General was calling.
In the afternoon Wheeler took Bill and myself to visit the covered bazaar
and I was thrilled with the jewellery displayed in the shops of the gold
smiths. I wish I had had enough money to have made a few purchases, there
were some truly lovely old Icons, richly gilded and jewelled, and so very
cheap which had been sold by White Russian refugees. I was much intrigued
by Wheeler's appearance. Clad in a dark cloak with a broad brimmed hat, he
had a very Secret Service air which I thought rather too theatrical, but
his ability to converse in Persian and Russian and one one occasion Turkish,
arroused my profound admiration. We went as close as we could to the
mosque, as near in fact as thejr heavy iron chains across the road beyond
which we were not allowed to pass. Non-Muslims at that time were not
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' [45r] (89/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x00005a> [accessed 27 December 2024]
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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.