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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [46r] (91/336)
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.
44
allowed to enter mosques In Persia. We were near enough, however, to feast
our eyes on the beautiful blue tiles of tne blue dome and the golden cover
ing of the other smouldering in the light of the setting sun. Earlier in
the day I had seen something of the Persian troops. There were, I believe,
some thirtee^hundred troops in the Garrison, organised into three Infantry
oattalions with some Pack and Field artillery. Therequipment of the troops
was dreadfully dilapidated and they were a very ramshackle collection of
fellows. That night we dined with the Consul-General, a rather formal
affair which I did not enjoy.
On the 20th April we went to the Oriental Carpet Works to see some carpets
being made for His Imperial Majesty the Shah. The Manager told us that the
average price of these carpets would be £3,000 each, and I stood spellbound
before one of the great vertical looms watching the row of small boys who
did the work. An elderly man stood to one side with a paper in his hand
from which he read out the pattern while the nimble fingers of the lads sel
ected wools of the right colours and wove them into place, tying them with
the traditional knot. We were shown the finest carpet the
factory
An East India Company trading post.
had pro
duced, a large beautifully patterned work of art thirteen feet by eight feet
which had taken three and a half years to weave. There were 2,300,000
stitches to the square zar; a zar is thirty-one inches in length so unless
my arithmetic is at fault, there were approximately 2,400 stitches to the
square inch. The manager deplored the passing of the traditional patterns
and the introduction of the modern and, to my mind, hideous patterns deman
ded by American dealers. I cannot feel that the old maxim that the customer
is always right was correct in this case, but I suppose if you want to sell
your wares then they have got to be what the buyers want, however misguided
the buyers may be. On the way back from the
factory
An East India Company trading post.
we passed the car of
the Russian Consul flying his Red flag. It was the first time that I had
seen what was then the new Russian flag.
On the 22nd April we left Meshed for Sabsawar, a distance of one hundred
and forty-eight miles. The road was really quite good compared with those
we had driven over between Duzdap and Meshed, and in spite of the rain we
made good time and entered the town in the early evening to be met by a
troop of cavalry and escorted to the residence of the Governor whose quests
we were to be for the night. Carpets had been hung out in our honour* and
we were received by the Governor in person and conducted to our rooms.
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' [46r] (91/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x00005c> [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.