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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [138r] (275/336)
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.
139
I awoke at dawn to find a dry breeze blowing from the land and got up at
once as the sun was already making the roof uncomfortably warm and the flies
were becoming disagreeably active. I roused the servants who were untroubled
by the flies as they slept covered from head to foot in their spare loin
cloths and ordered them to pack up and transfer the kit to the launch. I
told the clerk to take the launch back to Ghail Sha’ab with the servants
except for Naser and Salem who would remain with me and I would walk over
with them and meet hire there. I had hardly finished giving this direction
before my host of the previous evening arrived with his retinue of dusky
servitors laden with all the paraphernalia of breakfast. As soon as we had
eaten I thanked him profusely for his kindness and forced on him a suitable
present which he was most reluctant to accept. Leaving the clerk to super
intend the packing, Naser, Salem and I set off for Ghail Sha f ab. Arriving
at the tumbled down defence tower of the village we descended the cliff on
to the cool grass and walked to the ford across the broad stream. I found
it too deep to cross fully clothed so I stripped and, borrowing a shawl from
Salem, wrapped it around my waist and tried again. The water came above my
waist and I crossed to the far side and bathed and then sat on the grass in
the sun and watched Naser and Salem disporting themselves in the water. The
sun was getting hot so I recrossed the stream and dressed and moved into the
shade of the cliffs where Naser and Salem joined me as soon as they had
played enough and we sat in silence content to watch the scene. My medita
tions were interrupted by a sizeable piece of rock falling close to Salem,
which brought him in one bound to his feet. I glanced up and saw above me a
herd of goats walking in a nonchalant manner across the sheer face of the
cliff in the incredible way they have, plucking at green stuff growing in
the crevices as they went. We moved nearer the cliff until we were sheltered
from aerial bombardment by the overhang and I sent Salem to hail the launch
whose solitary mast I could see over the shingle bank and order them to boil
a kettle of tea and bring it ashore with some biscuits.
Naser and I watched the locals going about their lawful occasions while we
waited. Women crossed the ford fully clothed, with commendable modesty but
considerable discomfort from their wet, clinging skirts. I find nothing more
provoking than having to walk any distance in wet shorts or trousers - they
are clammy and chaf£ the skin between the legs and even in a hot climate, are
uncomfortably chilly. The men on the other hand had no regard for the spec
tators, male or female; they just whipped off their only garment, a cotton
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' [138r] (275/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00004c> [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.