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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [21r] (41/336)
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.
19 -
On arrival at the Marabah Palace, we entered through the main gate and fol
lowed a paved road for a short distance before coining to a halt in a court
yard full of large motor cars and people hurrying to and fro, apparently
engaged in the most pressing business. In the midst of all the bustle, a
Guard of Honour was drawn up which promptly presented arms. Uncertain
whether it was paraded in my honour or for some more important individual,
I glanced hastily around, but as no-one seemed to be paying the least atten
tion, I raised my hand in acknowledgment and was about to carry out the
usual inspection when Rushdi Mulhas plucked my sleeve and introduced me to a
senior police official, a Turk, who led the way to a doorway into the build
ing. I followed the policeman and Rushdi Mulhas up a number of staircases,
along a series of corridors and across several reception rooms until at last
we came to the hall of audience. Here Rushdi Mulhas and the policeman van
ished without a word and I found myself very much alone in the centre of the
open double doors of a very long room. On my right were a series of tall
open windows inj^etween which there hung enormous engraved mirrors, the like
of which were the pride of pretentious hotels in the Midlands in Edwardian
days. On my left was a long row of richly upholstered sofas and armchairs
in which were seated a number of Arab gentlemen, some wearing the gold
"agal" on their heads which proclaimed their kinship to the King, and among
whom I recognised His Royal Highness the Amir Faisal. Away in the far
right-hand corner, seated in solitary state with a telephone on a table to
one side, was His Majesty King Abdul Aziz bln Abdur Rahman Ibn Saud. Three
years earlier I had visited the Taj Mahal at Agra. I had expected to be
disappointed. I had felt that nothing in reality could come up to all I
had read and seen in colour and black and white of that marvellous dream in
white marble. In fact, I was astonished, the reality was far more wonderful
than the image of the building I had created in my mind and so it was with
Ibn Saud. He was no larger than I had imagined, nor taller, but the dignity
of that figure, swathed in a black cloak with a red and white headcloth, was
far greater than I had expected. Above all, I was impressed by the aura of
power which surrounded him alone in his great chair removed from his rela
tives and counsellors. The other people in that great room just did not
matter. There was for me just one man present and that was the King. I
I felt very much alone, rather like an unrehearsed understudy who has been
called upon suddenly to play the lead and arrives on the stage with no clear
idea of what precise point has been reached in the play and has forgotten to
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' [21r] (41/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x00002a> [accessed 26 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.