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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [137r] (273/336)
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.
135 -
cook was at that moment preparing tea. I had scarcely started to take my
portable radio set out of Its box before more notables were announced and
I went to meet them at the head of the staircase. One of them immediately
invited me to dine with him. I thanked him for his hospitality but declined
for myself as I had my own food but accepted on behalf of my men and, well
satisfied, he went off at once to set cooks and maidservants to work. My
other adult visitors went with him and I ordered the small boys, who had
collected in the way they always do anywhere in the world, to be got rid of
and set Saleh to guard the door against their return. Alone once more I
started to unpack such toilet and other articles as were necessary for my
brief stay and was so engaged when two husky negroes staggered on to the
roof with a great roll of reed matting for the servants to sleep on. I
asked them if there were any scorpions in it and they laughed at ay joke,
for so they considered the question, but to reassure me they shook the matt
ing and two immediately fell out and were stamped upon before they could do
any harm. Tea arrived, and I undressed and lay on my bed dripping with
sweat and wondered if it ever got cool in Tiwi as I listened to the BBC on
my radio set. Almost imperceptibly it did get cool and 1 ceased to sweat
and became concerned about the dew which was falling and wondered whether a
damp bed would result in rheumatism. My morbid thoughts were diverted by
the servants who were talking among themselves as they waited for their even
ing meal. I turned off the radio and walked over and joined them, telling
Naser to tell the cook that he could eat whatever he had prepared for me as
I would eat with them if and when the expected meal did appear.
About nine o'clock when we had almost given up hope, there was a thundering
on the door at the bottom of the stairs and almost everyone rushed to open
it. Up came trays of rice, dishes of meat, plates of ripe dates, fruit and
rounds of freshly baked bread. I have seldom seen so much food and was
pleased to find that a special assortment of these good things had been set
down on a brass tray on my carpet for my own enjoyment. I tried to persuade
our most hospitable host, who was superintending personally the laying out
of the dishes, to join me, but he refused and sat down with the servants. I
thoroughly enjoyed the meal, as did everyone else, and the debris was borne
away as swiftly as the food Itself had been produced by the energetic negroes
and my dismal thoughts banished, a full stomach works wonders, I lay down on
my camp-bed iand cooled by the breeze which had sprung up while we ate, soon
fell asleiep.
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' [137r] (273/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00004a> [accessed 29 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.