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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [67r] (133/336)
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.
- 65 -
and the policeman knew their work and I had every confidence in them.
I slept unashamedly in the afternoon and when the sun had gone down I found
Said and his brother and Had! all in their best clothes waiting to accom
pany me to the fair. We set out along the beach towards the twinkling
lights more than a mile away and the noise of the crowd at the fair came
faintly across the bay, a dull murmur punctuated from time to time by the
staccato sound of rifle shots as seme visitor of tribal status fired the
customary salute to the shrine and the "Akil". As we drew closer I could
distinguish people around the stalls in the fierce white light of the pres
sure lamps and even the fearsome greens and yellows and reds of the bottles
on the mineral water stalls. The stalls were arranged in two rows facing
each other and leading up a rise over the top of which could be seen the
waters of another and smaller bay. We made our way up this temporary
street, greeting our friends as we did so, until at the end we cane to the
shrine and round to the left of it the ”Akil*s M temporary headquarters. I
went at once to pay my formal respects to him, and was intercepted by a
deputation who said that they were the owners of ’’Roulette” tables and that
the unfeeling police, in accordanco with their kill-joy orders, had refused
to allow thorn to be operated. The ’’Roulette” tables were primitive in the
extreme and consisted of a rough wooden table on the top of which was nailed
a circular piece of tin cut from a kerosene oil can. The tin circle was
divided into eight or more segments and in the centre was a crude pointer
which revolved on what looked like a bead stuck on a nail driven into the
table. When the punters had placed their money, usually a copper coin of
the value of a farthing, on the segment of their fancy, the pointer was spun.
These on the segment over which it came to rest were the winners and could
choose a prize from the croupier's stock. The prizes ranged from farthing
coffee cups to twopenny bottles of scent. Some operators dispensed with
the prizes and went in for straight betting, offering odds up to four to
one on the different segments. The stakes were somewhat smaller than is
customary at Monte Carlo but the excitement was no less Intense and the
pleasure far greater. Unfortunately the law did not distinguish between
one form of gambling and another if it took place in public and so, strictly
speaking, the local ’’Messieurs Blanc” should have been arrested and confined
to the police station there to await the convenience of the magistrate
instead of which they were at large and importuning me. On my arrival X had
noticed that the sergeant and his constables had not been enforcing the law
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' [67r] (133/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x000086> [accessed 15 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.