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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [135r] (269/336)
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.
- 133 -
under which he had crept out of the aun.
At this point my attention wae drawn to the engine which spluttered and
stopped and I was able, from my vantage point, to see the engineers practis
ing their profession. It was clearly some serious disorder because the dog-
kennel-like structure of wood which covered the engine was being removed and
that meant we should have to move too as there was absolutely nowhere else
that the beastly thing could be put while the engine was examined. The mag
neto was removed and examined by both the engineers and its inside was
tickled up with a large screwdriver which seemed to have a beneficial effect.
The magneto was replaced and the patent oiling device readjusted. It was an
ingenious arrangement which gave a continuous flow of oil without which the
engine would have seized-up. An old cigarette tin with a hole in the bottom
had been suspended over the engine oil inlet by means of a piece of string
and two pieces of rusty wire. The cigarette tin was refilled periodically
and thus a continuous drip through the hole in the bottom maintained the
engine oil level which was vital. A movable panel allowed this manoeuvre to
be carried out without removing the kennel. On the whole it was a splendidly
simple arrangement which some people might call primitive, but it did work.
The kennel was replaced and the engine restarted with the aid of a pre-
cranking injection of petrol rather like a patient before an anaesthetic, but
with the opposite effect, and we were off again. There was a following breeze
so we stewed in our own, or rather the engine-room, Juice as we slowly made
our way eastward. I
I watched the shore closely and could see the track climbing up and down over
the rugged, narrow strip which separated the steep, formidable mountains from
the seashore. About a third of the way to Tlwl we passed the small fishing
village of Banlma and later that of Fins. All the houses of these villages
appeared to be in a semi-ruinous condition and I reflected on the lives the
people must live who were born in these places, many of whom never travelled
more than a dozen miles from home during their entire lives. After three
hours steady chugging along we were abreast of a spectacular narrow gorge
which ran deep into the mountains at the entrance to which was a high, white,
sandy beach over which I could see the tops of date palms vividly green
against the grey background of the mountains. Perched fifty feet above the
beach to the east of the gorge was the very small village of Ghail Sha'ab
where I had been told that fresh water was to be had a few yards from 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' [135r] (269/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x000046> [accessed 14 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.