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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [22r] (43/336)
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.
20
ask for stage directions. I could feel, rather than see, the heads of the
gentlemen on my left turn in my direction and had my eyes and thoughts not
been concentrated on Ibn Saud, it would have been unnerving. As it was, I
advanced purposefully up the room, my eyes fixed on the figure in the
corner.
Ibn Saud and the gentlemen in the armchairs and on the sofas rose to their
feet directly I began to move forward. Arriving eventually opposite His
Majesty, I greeted him as 1 would have the Sheikh of Kuwait and the usual
complimentary phrases were uttered by both of us as we shook hands. In
obedience to a wave of the royal hand, I sat down next to him and we talked
of the weather and how hot it was, of the Sheikh of Kuwait and his health,
the tribes, the water melons of Jahra (a village near Kuwait) which were
famous and the expected arrival the next morning in Jedda from Cairo of His
Excellency the British Ambassador, Mr Stonehewer Bird. Suddenly I noticed
my servant Naser walking up the room. Ibn Saud rose and we all followed
suit. Naser greeted him as if he was accustomed to meeting kings daily and
stooped to kiss his knee as he would have done to his own Sultan in far
away Aden. Ibn Saud held out his hand and pulled him up, whereupon Naser
touched the hand with his lips and again enquired after his health and with
the customary leave taking of 'In the security of God*, turned about and
marched out of the hall and we all sat down again. I suppose I was the
only person present who was in the least surprised and I was both surprised
and envious of the quiet dignity with which my young servant had conducted
himself.
Coffee was served and glasses of some sweet drink. A particularly large
glass for Ibn Saud who took a conventional sip, remarked that he did not
care for sweet things and set it down on the table with the telephone by
his side. A few minutes later His Majesty's conversation flagged and feel
ing that the time had come for me to retire, I asked permission to withdraw,
which was accorded very graciously. I backed a few paces and then turned
and made my way down the room to the doors where Rushdi Mulhas suddenly
appeared and conducted me downstairs and out to the car, or where the car
should have been but it was nowhere in sight. A frantic search was begun
in which everyone nearby joined and eventually the vehicle was located in
quite a different courtyard with a very obvious puncture. Rushdi was quite
distracted by this breakdown in his arrangements and rated the driver
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' [22r] (43/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x00002c> [accessed 14 June 2026]
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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.