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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [23r] (45/336)
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.
21 -
soundly, accusing him of gross carelessness in allowing the car to puncture
itself. I came to the driver’s rescue and endeavoured to pacify Rushdi by
pointing out that punctures would happen however careful the driver might
be and that in any case, I was not in the least inconvenienced as Naser was
there with my own car. Eventually I succeeded and leaving him behind at
his own request, I drove myself out through the main gate of the Palace.
As I did so, I heaved a sigh of relief that the first ordeal was safely
over and snapped the waist cord of my white cotton trousers; their sole
support. It was indeed a mercy that this awkward accident had not happened
ten minutes earlier in the Royal presence. It would indeed have been a
comic spectacle if my trousers had come tumbling about my ankles half way
down that great hall of audience, comic that is for all except myself.
Once outside the Palace I turned down the road I thought led to the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Hanifa, but something had gone wrong and after nearly running over a
'Saluki* dog, I found myself in someone's private courtyard and had to
return the way I had come. As I emerged I met the Amir Faisal's car. He
realised at once what had happened and laughed and waved his hand in greet
ing. I drove back to the main entrance of the Palace and tried again and
soon found the right road which wound its way past the date groves to the
north of the town. At the Guest House entrance I was faced with the prob
lem of passing the guard without loss of dignity or my trousers. I suc
ceeded in retaining the latter but only at the expense of the former, and
hurried past the soldiers slightly stooped with one hand clutching the
garments at my waist for all the world as if I had an abdominal colic.
Late the same evening Rushdi arrived to enquire whether I had any special
message for Ibn Saud because, if so, His Majesty would see me the next
morning in the old Palace in the town. I explained once again that my
visit was not official and that my sole object in coming to Riyadh was to
have the great honour of making the acquaintance of a man whose renown was
world-wide. I did my best to convince Rushdi that I had no confidential
message to deliver 5>ut, vtry naturally, would like to see as much of the
King as possible. I impressed upon him that I was entirely at His
»
Majesty's service and if at any time he desired my presence I would, God
willing, be there. Poor man, he was sadly puzzled; the truth is sometimes
not easy to believe. Eventually he ceased to cross-examine me about a
further audience and after a few polite phrases, went away and left me 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' [23r] (45/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/mirador/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x00002e> [accessed 29 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.