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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [65r] (129/336)
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.
03 -
and as Said said, "There is no shame at sea". Heaving in the net was hard
work and the "Sambuk" leant over at an even sharper angle with the weight
of the men concentrated on one side as they pulled madly at the ropes.
Suddenly, with a flash of light, a king fish leapt out of the water straight
over our heads and fell back into the sea on the far side of the canoe and
was free. This could not be allowed and Said shouted an order to the naked
youth who, being lighter than the older men, could best be spared from work
on the net. The lad seized the stone and its rope and joined me on the
stern and balanced precariously while I drew myself back against the rudder
post,my legs stretched out in front of me, to give him as much room as pos
sible. He stood astride my legs with his back to me and heaved his stone
with right good will, balanced superbly on the wet, slippery surface, and
the spray descended in sheets on both of us. I clung on with both hands in
dire peril of falling into the sea, my face a few Inches from the young
fellow's legs and I could see little else. His wet back glistened with the
spray as he stopped to haul in the stone and rose to swing it once again,
his lack of clothing forgotten in the excitement of the moment. As soon as
the men were able to grasp the meshes of the net Itself, there was no need
for ray companion to continue his work with the stone. I called to the man
in the canoe who reached forward and seized the loincloth and threw it to me.
I gave it to its owner who wrapped it swiftly around his loins with a quick
/ smile of gratitude before joining his comrades at work on the net. Said, who
was screaming exhortations to the men in a cracked voice, did not notice the
incident otherwise I am sure the lad would have been cursed for wasting time.
The water inside the circle of net boiled with a heaving mass of phosphor
escent fire which grew brighter and brighter as the fish came closer and
closer to the surface. At last the fish were near enough to be handled and
the men seized them with both hands by the tail and heaved them into the
canoe. Fire seemed to follow the net right into the "Sarabuk" and then go
out as pile upon pile of net was stacked in the waist. The last part of
the net to come to the surface was the pocket or "Qes” and thirty or more
smaller fish of about two pounds each cascaded from it in a shower of sparks
into the canoe.
L
Suddenly all was quiet, the net was in, and the men sat resting, their
chests heaving with their exertions and everyone was satisfied. Besides the
small fish we had caught a dozen king fish weighing well over twenty pounds
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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' [65r] (129/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x000082> [accessed 28 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.