!['"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [‎131r] (261/336)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002de/Mss Eur F226_13_0261.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'\"NO MEDALS THIS TIME\" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [‎131r] (261/336)")
'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [131r] (261/336)
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.
129
We mounted our donkeys and crossed the
wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
and were faced with the stlffest
climb we had so far encountered which meant dismounting and scrambling up on
foot leading the animals. I was profoundly glad that we had got rid of the
camel. She would almost certainly have fallen and broken one of her precious
legs. We travelled over country as arid as that we had crossed during the
morning and saw nothing of interest except a convoy of sand grouse and one
solitary wild ass. The sea was now visible on our left and I had hopes that
we would reach Dhibah in daylight. It was not to be. The track kept bending
further and further away to the right in a most disheartening way and sunset
came with us still far from home. Shortly after darkness fell we came to the
top of a rise and away in the far distance to our left we could see a light
which, from its brilliance, was obviously a pressure lamp. I was cheered at
the realisation that the launch must have arrived and disappointed at the dis
tance we still had to travel. The light appeared to be very far away indeed.
I dismounted and sat on a rock and drank some water in an endeavour to
replace some of the moisture I had lost. It was seven o'clock and the temper
ature still high in the nineties. An altercation started between Naser and
the donkey men and I called out to find out what was the trouble. We were all
tired and irritable and any bad temper must be dealt with firmly otherwise I
should have a fight on my hands. Naser and Saleh and the donkey men came up
in a body. The donkey men announced that they were tired, they had lost
their way, their animals were incapable of going any farther and they had
made up their minds to spend the night exactly where we were. Having deter
mined at all costs to remain cool and calm I did nothing of the sort and
immediately lost my temper. My Arabic was fluent and forceful and in no time
we were on our way, picking out the path with our electric torches until we
reached flat soft going an hour later and were able to mount and ride over
the coastal plain to the outskirts of Dhibah. As we rode slowly through the
trees and bushes, the night magnified what in daylight were but a few tama
rinds and thorn bushes into a veritable forest. We came out of the trees to
cross a
wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
bed and plodded over white yielding sand to the village, a mean
place of matting huts with here and there a more pretentious stone dwelling,
scattered over a wide expanse of sand with an occasional large shady tree.
The clerk carao to meet us and told me that they had all arrived without mis
hap and a small hut had been rented for my accommodation. The cook had dis
liked the sea as much as he had the land, but otherwise all were in good heart.
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [131r] (261/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00003e> [accessed 14 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00003e
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00003e">'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [‎131r] (261/336)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00003e"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002de/Mss Eur F226_13_0261.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000880.0x0002de/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
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.