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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [150r] (299/336)
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.
148 -
The method of dealing In pearls was of particular Interest to me. Indden-
tally, when buying pearls, always examine them against a background of dark
red when they look their worst and their faults are more easily discerned.
When selling pearls, give them a background of the palest blue and they will
look superlative. Really Important pearls, that is large pearls of the first
grade or to use the local name "Shlrin”, were always sold singly and the same
was the case with outstanding pearls of the second grade or "Golwash", while
smaller pearls were sold either as matching parits or in lots which varied in
size from three or four to as many as a hundred or more depending very often
on the substance and standing of the dealers. The pearls were roughtly graded
for size by the use of sieves and also for weight on small, finely balanced-
scales. The calculations of the weight and size were so complicated that
dealers always had to have recourse to a book of tables. The common measure
was the "chow", but what precisely a "chow" was I was never able properly to
understand; all I do know is that an outstandingly large pearl might be
classed as 1,000 chow while as many as 330 "Bukah", the smallest grade of
"Naim" or seed pearl, would amount to but one "chow". Some forty years ago
the finest "Shirln" would fetch as much as £45 a "chow" while the most infe
rior grades would fetch something between Is 6d and 9s Od a chow.
The merchants carried their pearls tied up in scraps of dark red cotton cloth
in what I thought was a very haphazard manner. When a merchant wished to buy
or sell a single pearl or a lot during the pearling season or immediately
afterwards, a
broker
Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation.
was employed who acted as a go-between acceptable mutu
ally to the purchaser and the vendor. When this gentleman's negotiations
individually with the parties concerned had convinced him that they were in
earnest about the deal and he was of the opinion that a deal would result, he
called them together. The seller sat on one side of him and the buyer on the
other with their hands hidden under a cloth. The
broker
Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation.
held one hand of
each of them and could thus, without speaking but simply by understood pres
sure of his hands on theirs, indicate whether they should increase the offer
or lower the price as the case might be. Eventually after what might be hours
of hard bargaining, the parties would come so close together that the
broker
Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation.
could get agreement on the deal by splitting the difference if they were both
unwilling to give way any more. In the case of a very "important" pearl,
there was always a great deal of secrecy before and when an offer was made.
Firstly the pearl would be brought ashore from the lucky boat which had found
it and, not infrequently, the knowledge that it had been found at all was
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' [150r] (299/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x000064> [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.