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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [109r] (217/336)
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.
\cfi
- 107 -
and not to be insulted like the people of this country and I shall beat you
like the fenale sheep that you are." The bedouin roared at me, his beard
bristling with rage, "You call me a female sheep?" and 1 don't know what
would have happened, probably nothing much; we would have continued to
fight with words until the spectators separate us and made peace between us,
I expect, or we might Indeed have fought in earnest as we were both very
angry, but as you well know, that seldom happens. However, the noise we made
attracted a police patrol and we were arrested immediately and taken before
the magistrate in Kuwait. We each told our tale. He accused me of calling
him a female sheep and I accused him of calling me an ass. The magistrate
was a wise man. When he had heard us both he said, "You are Indeed truthful
men. You," and he pointed at me, "are an ass. And you," speaking to the
bedouin, "have no more sense than an ewe. Get out of my court and stop this
nonsense" and with that he laughed and told them to bring the next case. I
was very relieved to escape without punishment and I was glad I had not lied
to a man such as that.
On another occasion my assistant, who was a Persian lad, saved me from angry
bedouin. We had got stuck in the sand on the way to an encampment and I used
the water from the tanker to wet the sand in order to get it out. By the
time we were again on hard ground, all the water was finished and I was in a
difficulty because I should not have used the water but waited where I was
until the contractor sent out to search for us and then another lorry or a
tractor would have pulled us out. It might have been a day before they came
out to us and we had no food so it was easier for us to use the water. I
decided to report on my arrival at our depot that I had carried out my orders
and delivered the water to the bedouin. Two days later the bedouin came in
and complained to my foreman. Naturally I lied and swore by God that they had
had their water and, of course, he did not believe me and at once drove out
in his own car with us to see that it was delivered. When we had finished lie
drove away and as the Persian lad was putting up the tanker's pump, those
miserable bedouin attacked me. There were twenty or thirty of them and they
screamed abuse at me and started to tear off my clothes. I should have been
in a bad way if it had not been for the Persian who acted with great presence
of mind. He switched on the pump and directed a jet of cold water over my
attackers and myself. Shocked and surprised, we all stopped fighting immedi
ately. I was quicker than they were to realise what had happened and tore
myself from my enemies before they had recovered from their surprise and
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' [109r] (217/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x000012> [accessed 8 July 2026]
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- 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.