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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [30r] (59/336)
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.
28 -
The boy listened with bent head to the whispered instructions and then ran
quickly into the house to return before Sheikh Abdullah could resume his
argument with the news that dinner awaited our pleasure. My host had obvi
ously got his household well in hand.
Tahir Effendi and one Hussein Uweini joined us for dinner. The latter, I
gathered, was the Saudi Agent in Beirut as well as being a substantial mer
chant dealing in motor cars, and he held forth on the difficulties of making
a living in wartime and the sad lack of a hotel in Kuwait. After dinner we
drove over to visit the Americans working on the A1 Karaj scheme and found
them with a Mr K S Twitchwell who was, I believe, directing the operations
of a Gold Mining Company. This gentleman was interested in my doings and
cross-examined me closely on my reason for being in Riyadh. I told him the
simple truth and he, by his manner, made it quite clear that he thought I was
a poor liar and not fit to be trusted with negotiations. I have no doubt
that he knew already that I had been alone with Ibn Saud for nearly an hour
that morning. His attitude was, I suppose, excusable at a time when numbers
of people were hurrying about on secret missions of vast importance and
intelligence agents were as thick on the ground as the leaves in autumn.
However, I took a poor view of Mr Twitcii#ell and was glad when Sheikh
Abdullah grew tired of talking about water tables and drainage and decided
that it was time to go home.
The following morning I was taken to see more of the agricultural area after
which I returned to the house and listened for hours to Hussein A1 Uweini on
the iniquities of the French in Syria, while my host who had heard it all
before, went away to rest. Why, I was asked, did we not take over Syria and
govern the country for the duration of the war and twenty years afterwards,
why did we leave the unfortunate Syrians to the mercy of the Free French who
were fundamentally no different from the Vichy French? Syria's position, he
maintained, was hopeless with the Turks to the north, the Jews to the south
and the French in possession; verily the Syrians were like sheep led to the
slaughter house. I ventured to suggest that perhaps the Syrians did not
wish to be ruled by Great Britain even for the duration of the war. On this
Hussein grew excited and called on Tahir Effendi to support his view that
the Syrians would welcome us with open arms. This went on for. sore than
three hours with the thermometer well over 100° F and I found it exhausting
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' [30r] (59/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x00003c> [accessed 30 January 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.