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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [147r] (293/336)
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.
145 -
To watch Pack making up nacklaces was an education and always was I deeply
impressed by the meticulous care he and his elderly partner or assistant, I
never knew the Hindu gentleman's precise position, took to ensure that the
individual pearls in a necklace were exactly the same shade of colour and
the right size. One day they were engaged in selecting two pearls to go on
each side of the centre pearl in a necklace. Always the most difficult pair
to choose because they are so close to each other, separated only by the
centre pearl, that they must be as near identical twins as possible, both in
shade and size and, of course, in shape. That afternoon I watched while more
than thirty pairs were tried and rejected before at last they were satisfied.
The rejects were either too large or too small or of the wrong quality or ever
so slightly different in colour. I would have lost patience myself and in
fact I was moved to expostulate once when a pair I thought perfect were
rejected. 1 said that I could not understand the search for such perfection
and was reproved gently. Pack agreed that the lady for whom the necklace was
being made would not know the difference, but that was not enough. His repu
tation was at stake and that to him, a true craftsman, was of paramount impor
tance. Should the necklace be shown to Cartier in Paris or some other famous
jewellers and it became known that he. Pack, was responsible for a necklace in
which the grading and matching was not perfect, heads would be shaken and the
word would go around that he was growing careless and falling below his usual
high standard.
Most of the pearls which Pack was eager to buy were of the rosy-pink shade so
much in demand in those days in the markets of Paris and New York, then the
great centres of the European and American trade. Each shade had its own
particular market and the yellow tinted pearls were as much sought after by
South Americans and Indian Princes, while the pure white pearls all found
their way to the dealers in Bombay, a great centre of the pearl trade, des
tined for the States of Southern India. Of the less fashionable colours I
liked best the blue pearls, but here again there was a variety of degrees of
colour from those of a beautiful pale blue to those of a steely colour that
to me looked for all the world like ball bearings. The black pearls which
are often alleged by novelists to be of supreme value I never liked, probably
because the so-called black pearls found occasionally in the Gulf were poor
things with little or no lustre. I believe that the really fine, black
pearls are in fact of a very deep, dark green colour and are found in the
Gulf of Mexico, a part of the world it has never been my fortune to visit.
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' [147r] (293/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00005e> [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.