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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [112r] (223/336)
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.
110 -
One evening it was the turn of young Mohammed. So far he had had no more
than the usual adventures of a young tribesman in a land which until a few
years ago, was riven by blood feuds; adventures which would have seemed
hair-raising enough to an English schoolboy but which to him were nothing out
of the ordinary. Normally he sat in modest silence in the presence of his
elders, slightly withdrawn from the circle on the carpets, hoping not to be
noticed and sent away. That evening he told us a pretty little fairy story
and it came about in this way. I mentioned that I had been delighted that
morning once again to see two Hoopoes (genus upupa), friendly long-beaked
birds with striking plumage and a tall crest of cinnamon feathers tipped with
black which they can raise and lower at will. These birds are winter visi
tors to South Arabia and their appearance was always a clear indication that
the hot weather was coming to an end. Mohammed surprised us all by speaking
without being spoken to first.
"Have you heard how the Hoopoe got his crown?" he asked with a shy smile.
"No," I said quickly before the others could reprimand him for being forward,
"tell us how it came about", and this is Mohammed's tale.
"It was in the days when Suliman the Great, whom you call Solomon, was fight
ing in the African desert. You remember he married Balkls, Queen of Sheba,
which some people suggest was near Marib in the Yemen where was built the
great dam which made all the country fertile until it was broken by a great
flood. Balkis did not come from Marib. She came from Shabwa which is in my
country and was at one time called Sheba. Now it is a very small place, all
the palaces having been destroyed hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The
Yemenis claim Shabwa but the whole world knows they have no right and have
ever been liars. I have heard also that the Sharif of Beihan has some idea
that it belongs to him but you know what the Sharif is - a very brave man no-
one can deny but sometimes he has strange fancies. No, Shabwa belongs to us,
to the Aulakies, as did the whole of the Protectorate in years gone by before
we withdrew into our hills that others might know peace.
One day King Suliman's army camped in the desert for the night and before
dawn, the king rode out into the darkness on his camel to be alone and think
of all the problems with which he had to deal. A wind sprang up, that before
dawn wind which blows in the desert sometimes with great force, and blew the
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' [112r] (223/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x000018> [accessed 4 April 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.