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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [43r] (85/336)
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.
41 -
part of the palace. We followed him across a pretty garden and entered the
building through a fine archway. Of the interior of the building all that
really stands out in my mind is a vision of more and more handsome carpets,
innumerable lamps and the glitter of the mirror encrusted plaster of the
walls. It was as well that we had changed because our host, a dignified
man past middle-age, was also attired in a dinner jacket and with him simi
larly clad, was a young Persian who spoke English, so that we got on very
well with English, Urdu, a few words of which our host knew, and the few
Persian words Bill and I had learnt.
As soon as the introductions had been completed, champagne appeared and
flowed freely until towards the end of dinner when it gave place to
Benedictine in Sherry glasses. Our host toasted us individually in
Benedictine and good manners required us to return the compliment, then the
young Persian did the same and again we replied. Each time the glasses had
to be emptied and were promptly refilled. By the end of the long and deli
ciously cooked meal of more than a dozen courses I thought I was past car
ing what happened next, but I confess I was shaken when our host announced
that we would play bridge. I had forgotten that my brother officer had told
me that he had taught him to play and that he had been a ready pupil. We
went into a small room where a card table had been set out and sat down to
the game at once. I have little recollection of what transpired thereafter,
probably due to the fact that large whiskies and water made their appearance
and our host would not take no for an answer. We played until the sauxll
hours of the morning and I have a vague recollection that Bill and I lost
quite a number of krans. What I do remember is that once back in the guest
house, we immediately packed away our dress clothes and put on our travell
ing things before we lay down to sleep. Fortunately we woke in time for us
to be down at the entrance gate just after dawn ready and waiting when the
Colonel arrived to pick us up. He gave us one look but said nothing^ there
was no need. I don't think I have ever felt so terrible as I did that morn
ing. Mercifully the road was unusually smooth and we both slept solidly in
the back of the car for a couple of hours and woke up to find we had stopped
and the Colonel was desiring me in no uncertain terms to get out and see how
much room there was between the bottom of the car and the culvert we were
trying to cross. The trouble with these culverts was that they were far too
sharp for a long motor car and there was a danger of sticking on the running
boards. Some of them instead of being round were like an inverted 'V and
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' [43r] (85/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x000056> [accessed 4 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.