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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [120r] (239/336)
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.
118 -
In 1940 the War had added to my ordinary responsibilities as Consul and
Political Agent
A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
in Muscat, and among my additional burdens was the organisa
tion of a coastal watch for enemy submarines and this necessitated my keeping
in close touch with the Governors of the Sultan's maritime provinces. To the
north of Muscat this was comparatively easy because I could, and did, drive
my station-wagon a hundred and fifty miles through the date gardens of the
Batinah Coast as far as Schar. Thereafter it was more difficult as the primi
tive track ran over sand dunes and salt marshes as well as through date gar
dens as far as Khor Fakkan where the so-called road ended and at that tine
progress northward could be made only by sea. At low tide I used the beach
from the village of Sib a few miles north of Muscat to Sohar and it was
splendid when it was hard, but soft patches could be encountered generally
when least expected and often I and my servants had to race against time to
unload the car and dig it out before we were caught by the incoming tide.
Mercifully we never were caught and once or twice we covered the distance
from Sohar to Sib and then on Ly the Inland road to Muscat in very quick time
indeed and only last year His Majesty the Sultan told me that I still held the
record for the journey.
To cover the coast to the south-east of Muscat was much more difficult because
there was no road at all for nine-tenths of the way to the town of Sur near
Ras A1 Hedd, the most easterly point of Arabia, the headquarters of one of the
most Important Governors. In the spacious days of peace one of His Majesty's
ships would have been placed at my disposal and I should have done the journey
in style and great comfort, but in wartime the Royal Navy had more important
duties than carrying comparatively junior officials on tours of Inspection.
As it was essential that 1 should keep in touch with the Governor of Sur I
decided to reconnoitre the country beyond the small port of Qariyat, to which
I knew I could drive, in the hope that some sort of track could be made which
would speed up communication between Sur and Muscat. The expedition was to be
a land and sea operation, the outward journey to be by car and donkey, and the
return with greater speed and, I hoped, greater comfort by sea.
The maritime section of the expedition consisted of a decrepid thirty foot
launch of great age engined, if such a word can be used legitimately to des
cribe the evil-smelling collection of Ironmongery in the middle of the vessel,
by an old petrol motor of eccentric temperament. This vessel was to take the
advance party which consisted of a clerk of Persian origin and a recently-
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' [120r] (239/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x000028> [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.