!['"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [‎80r] (159/336)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002de/Mss Eur F226_13_0159.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'\"NO MEDALS THIS TIME\" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [‎80r] (159/336)")
'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [80r] (159/336)
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.
78 -
Beidha is the capital of a large province of the Yemen and the headquarters
of the "Amil M or Governor. It is about sixteen miles from Aryab, and
although the new$ of the reinforcement was more of a rumour than authentic
information, it was very disquieting. Frontiers are the same the world
over and tropp movements in their vicinity no less disturbing in Arabia
than they would be in Europe. I turned the conversation into other channels
and asked him if he would be good enough to write a letter to the Sultan at
Zara, the capital below on the plain, informing him that I would be visiting
him in a day or two. I asked him also to write a note to my other servant,
Naser, who lived in the village at the foot of the path leading down the
escarpment to say that, God willing, I would be with him the following after
noon. The letters were written forthwith and a messenger 9MB sent for and
instructed to delivery them as soon as possible. These professional messen
gers move with deceptive speed, swinging along at a steady five miles an
hour when not in a hurry and seldom vary this pace whatever the nature of
the ground. Their speed down the escarpment was phenomenal and thirty min
utes was a good average time for the drop of nearly four thousand feet and
that takes some doing as I knew only too well. My best time was accomp
lished fifteen years after the time of which I write when I ran down in
fifty-nine minutes and regretted it deeply for the next fortnight, I was so
stiff that movement up and down stairs was agony.
No sooner had the messenger left than my host announced that the midday meal
was ready and a large flat dish containing what I took to be maize meal
boiled with milk was placed in our midst. Our host laced this porridge with
hot, clarified butter which he poured out of a small kettle. It was not
nearly as unpalatable as it sounds but I found some difficulty in manipulat
ing the stuff without the aid of a spoon. Hands and hands alone was the
motto of the house. The dish was emptied quickly and as soon as it had been
cleared away, Sultan Abdullah bin Ahmad left to deal with the problems of
Government, having accepted an invitation to dine with us that evening. As
he went out, a tribesman came in dressed in a brightly coloured kilt and a
clean white shirt. Ke greeted me in excellent English and explained that he
was the W/T operator from Mukeiras where a small Government set was main
tained to keep the Political people in Aden in touch with frontier happenings.
He told me that he had lived in the United States for seven years and had a
wife and two daughters in that country. During the depression he had been
arrested and deported on the grounds that he had entered the country
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [80r] (159/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x0000a0> [accessed 28 December 2024]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x0000a0
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x0000a0">'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [‎80r] (159/336)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x0000a0"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002de/Mss Eur F226_13_0159.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002de/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
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.