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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [142r] (283/336)
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.
140 -
sat upon. I took my seat on the carpet to one side at the far end of the
room leaving the centre, the place of honour, vacant for the Governor and
the rest of the party who had the entree, which was apparently as many as
the room would hold, filed in and ranged themselves around the walls. From
time to time, as we waited, another local notable stalked into the middle of
the room and greeted the company whereupon we all rose and replied to the
greeting, then the new arrival slipped into his rightful place in the line,
everyone moved down one, the most junior disappearing through the door and
we all sat down again. This happened every thirty seconds as dignatories
hurried to get into their places before the Governor arrived. Excellent
exercise but tiring after the twentieth arrival and I was relieved when a
commotion outside indicated that the great man was about to make his
appearance.
Saud bln All was a short, stout gentleman with a round face, grey beard and
very bright eyes, dressed from head to foot in white with an embroidered belt
at his waist supporting a silver-sheathed dagger. tie carried a thin bamboo
camel stick in one hand and his sharp eyes took in the assembled company as
he entered the room with considerable dignity. We all rose to our feet and
I moved down the centre of the room to meet him. We shook hands and returned
to the end of the room and sat down and indulged in the usual compliments and
polite enquiries. His brother was at the time one of the Governors of the
Imam of Oman and although the Sultan and the Imam were not at this time on
friendly terms, I have no reason to suppose that either of the brothers ever
betrayed their trust.
Two negro servants entered the room carrying between them a large earthenware
bowl slung in a coloured cotton cloth. The bowl contained a kind of "Turkish
Delight" and was carried around the gathering each in turn dipping his fing
ers into the sweet and scooping out a goodly quantity. Coffee in the usual
little handleless cups followed and then rose water in a glass container and
incense in a brass burner. They were more liberal with their rose water in
Sur than anywhere else I had been. The servant who bore the glass vessel
used it like a watering can and liberally sprinkled our defenceless heads and
shoulders as he made the round of the gathering. As soon as these formalities
had been conpleted, the Governor suggested that we should go together to the
house of the leading Hindu merchant and the whole assembly rose and followed
kVvOLj-
us out into the street. We reamined but a few minutes with the Hindus during
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' [142r] (283/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x000054> [accessed 17 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.