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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [8r] (15/336)
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.
6
Empire and when the pattern of trade changed, refused to accept the
Venetian coinage which was at that time notoriously debased. Caravans
of spices and incense arriving at the Mediterranean ports via Basra, the
Shatt-al-Arab and Mesopotamia or via South Arabia, the Red Sea Coast and
Sinai, demanded and received payment in their favourite coinage.
The use of these coins had become so firmly established in Arabia that
the demand persisted after the eclipse of the Empire and the death of
the Empress and even after the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. The Vienna Mint continued to produce them for anyone who provi
ded the necessary silver, using the Empress Maria Theresa dies with the
date 1780. In 1935 the copyright was parted with by the Vienna Mint and
the Rome Mint commenced their version of the rial. They were slightly
larger than the Austrian coins but had not the same silver content.
These nice big coins, though bearing the Empress’s effigy, did not appeal
to the unlettered Arab who rang them on a stone and found the sound pro
duced unattractive. Then an enterprising businessman approached the
Royal Mint who obliged by producing for him coins of the same silver con
tent and exactly similar in design to the Austrian coins. For a time
this person had a monopoly of the London coins but it was not long before
a very energetic and able French merchant in Aden approached the Royal
Mint and persuaded them by quoting ancient statutes designed to prevent
monopolies, to supply him as well. Now I understand the right to mint
these coins has once again reverted to the Vienna Mint.
In some parts of Arabia, the Maria Theresa thaler or rial had a very
short life as for instance in the Sultanate of Oman. They were born in
London and shipped to the port of Aden where they were bought by the
agents of merchants in Muscat, the capital of Oman. From Aden they were
shipped to Muscat and used by the merchants there to purchase "dry" and
”wet M dates from the interior of Oman. Later in the year they came once
again into the hands of the local merchants when they sold cloth and all
manner of other consumable goods to the tribes. They remained in
the coffers of the merchants until the world silver price was favourable
and were then shipped to Bombav as bullion. With the proceeds of the
sale of the bullion, the merchants replenished their stocks of consumer
goods and months later they bought more dollars from Aden ready for the
next date season and the cycle began again.
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' [8r] (15/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x000010> [accessed 2 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.