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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [106r] (211/336)
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.
104 -
drivers and we all wanted to gather as much com as possible, so no sooner
did we drop our passengers in Mecca than we would rush back to Jedda to col
lect another load. Generally I would have to drive down empty but some
times, if I was lucky, I would find one or two passengers. Speed was essen
tial to profit and that was what the Saudi police were anxious to stop, but
if one was careful and kept a look out for the police patrols, and in par
ticular the Amir in charge of the Police, one could make good time. You ask
what happened if one was caught speeding; was one fined by the Magistrate
or did the Court cancel one's licence? I will tell because I know. There
is no court and no magistrate; they are unnecessary and a waste of time.
One day I was driving down with two passengers and was speeding, oh yes, I
was speeding, but that would not have mattered if I had not been Interested
in what the passenger sitting next to me was saying. I did not see the Amir
and his men standing above the road and the first thing I knew was when one
of his men stationed at the next comer stepned into the road on a signal
from his master and waved to me to stop. I only just succeeded in doing so
without knocking him down. I was travelling fast, there is no doubt of
that, and he, stupid negro that he was, stood in the middle of the road. If
my brakes had not been good he would have died. I was frightened and annoyed
at the same time and not realising who he was, I cursed the fellow. I had
started only to tell him what I thought of him when two more men joined him
and before I knew what was happening, they had dragged me out of the car and
hustled me up the road to where the Amir was standing with a number of his
men. When I saw the Amir I knew that I had been caught speeding and I ceased
to struggle and hoped that the fine would not be more than the money I had on
me otherwise I should be put in prison and that I did not look forward to
because Saudi prisons are very different from the Aden prison. The men let
go of me in front of the Amir but before I could say one word, the Amir gave
an order and four of them seized me again, one to each of my arms and each of
my legs and held me face downwards suspended in the air. The Amir had a
leather whip in his hand and I realised that he was going to beat me. I
struggled and I went up and down like a spring bed, calling out that I was an
Aulaki and that it was a shameful thing in ray country to beat a man. He did
not strike me but ordered his men to release me and they dropped me on my face
in the road. I scrambled to my feet and the Amir warned me that if I was
caught again I would feel the weight of his whip. I was furiously angry and
would have spoken strong words to the Amir but one of his men whispered that
I should go quickly and not anger him otherwise I would certainly be beaten.
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' [106r] (211/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00000c> [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.