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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [146r] (291/336)
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.
144 -
x
I was to have other lessons from my kind friend when I found time to call in
at the workshop he had established in the house that he had rented for his
visit. There I watched fascinated as his Hindu assistant drilled the pearls
which went to the making of the necklace he was creating for the wives of
senior executives of the Bahrein Petroleum Company while he waited for the
season's catch to be brought back from the pearl banks by the brokers. The
work of drilling was done by means of a very primitive tool operated by hand.
Anyone who has been to India will have seen a carpenter using the same instru
ment to drill holes in wood. A vertical stick with a fine needle-like bit at
one end which is operated by means of a wooden bow,the string of which is
doubled round the stick. The bow is moved backwards and forwards horizon
tally and thus imparts a circular motion to the drill. I gathered that
science had not improved on this primitive instrument and I learnt also that
with round pearls with but a single blemish, just one spot or pit on the sur
face, a skilled operator of the drill could drill through the blemish and a
perfect pearl of greatly enhanced value would result.
On the flat roof on to which the workshop opened, standing in rows in the
sunlight were bottles of distilled water in which rested numbers of pearls
placed there with the object of improving their sheen. Pearls do become sick
and lose their bloom and of course it is well known that some ladies cannot
wear pearls. Pearls worn by such unfortunate people become lustreless and I
have heard it said that this is due to some spiritual emanation. This theory
sounds very romantic but is in fact complete nonsense. Some people perspire
more freely than others and perspiration affects adversely the skin of the
pearl. Pearls are not gem stones but are composed of organic substance
secreted in layers by the oyster as a protection against irritation from
grains of sand or other hard substances which have lodged inside the shell
against the body of the oyster. Pearls are, therefore, much more susceptible
to the acid in perspiration than would be gem stones and must be very care
fully looked after. They should be washed in cold water after being worn,
especially by people prone to perspiration, and another point, they should be
restrung periodically. The silk on which ropes of pearls are strung is also
affected by perspiration and nothing is more unpleasant than to have to grope
round on all fours looking under furniture for the pearls of some silly, care
less woman while she stands in despair, quite unable to recall the number of
pearls there were in her necklace, if she ever knew which is most improbable.
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' [146r] (291/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00005c> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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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.