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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [78r] (155/336)
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.
76
with pride that one belonged to his son serving in the Aden Protectorate
Levies in Aden, one was a guest room and the third, into which I was shown,
belonged to Ahmad. The room was very clean and I was astonished at the
absence of flies. The walls were plastered and painted dark blue to a
height of three feet from the floor and thereafter, a light yellow. On the
floor were locally woven strips of carpet of black and white goats’ hair,
and the ceiling was of branches of "Elb” wood covered with plaster and
painted tne same colour as the upper part of the walls. At the far end of
the room was a platform raised some six inches above the floor and there at
my host's direction, I took my seat while he sat on the floor leaning back
against the wall. Ahmad excused himself and hurried away to greet his
mother and his wife.
My host explained that he and his wife and daughters-in-law occupied the
second floor and was relating the history of the building of the house when
Ahmad came back with his mother, a small dignified lady dressed in dark
blue or black, it was difficult to be certain, as the only lifiit in the
room came from one very small window placed at floor level. In countries
where it is customary to sit on the floor, windows are always so placed
otherwise it would be impossible to see out of them. Ahmad's mother had
undoubtedly been a beautiful girl in her youth, but now in late middle age
she was much lined and her hair seen under the shawl she wore over her head
was grey. We shook hands and she greeted me as any western lady would a
guest in her own house, enquiring after my health and the flight from Aden,
and expressing a hope that my stay would be for longer than just one night.
She asked after her son in Aden and I told her I had seen him but a few
Then she dis-
hours before and that
appeared to return almost at once with a round aluminium tray on which were
three handleless and saucerless cups and a round flask, the lower half of
which was covered in soot. The tray was placed between us on the floor and,
giving the flask a good shake, she filled the cups with a steaming hot,
brownish fluid which proved to be coffee made from unroasted coffee beans
and flavoured with ginger. Very much of an acquired taste. The coffee was
allowed to cool and then my host handed me one of the cups and another to
his son. The tnirri he took himself and drank with obvious relish. The lady
sat and watched us, replenishing the cups from time to time from the flask
wnich she held in her hand. She asked me why I had not told them that I was
coming and I was as embarrassed by the question as I would have been had the
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' [78r] (155/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411638.0x00009c> [accessed 18 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.