Memoir of the Career of Sir Reginald Michael Hadow [‎5r] (9/26)

Memories
My two most vivid memories are: a) Having to get Mr Skrine out
of a cell in Russian Military HQ where he had been hauled for taking photographs
of vital military secrets (Uzbek soldiers watering their horses at a trough!)
and b) Smuggling 5 American airmen who were intermed in Siberia after the
U
Doisttle B25 raid on Japan, escaped and found their way to North of Meshed,
through the Russian'^’^y^v^ and on their way to India.
Autumn 1943 I was posted as A.P.A. to Bahrein. Travelled ^ Quetta and Bombay
where I was at last able to replemish my wardrobe and that of my new wife. Thence
by oil - tofttbe r (Dutch) to Bahrein.
A
jkihrem P.A. was Tom Hickinbotham' my duties were very run of the mill. A.P.A.
Gulf duties except that for a time I doubled as Political Officer Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates.
visiting from Bahrein rather than resident in Sharjah. I flew to India to take
my Russian lower standard, which I passed with some ease. Found I could not
cope with Arabic so continued my Persian studies. The P.R. Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Sir
Geoffrey Prior, had started life I believe as one of "Wilson's young men" in
Iraq after World War I and modelled himself on that Proconsular figure. He
was a keen linguist'and insisted on his "young men" learning all the local
languages diligently, conducting the exams himself. He subsequently passed me
in my Persian Interpretership when I was in Bushire.
I found the life and work in Bahrein stultifying and the climate execrable. The
only bright spot was learning from Hickinbotham all about the Gulf Arabs and
how to deal with them. But I was delighted to be posted to Bushire on the
Persian side in the winter.
—- Shlre Vice Con sul, but in the general set up of the Politick* Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
under Prior. A last view of a real Proconsul and a Proconsular Establishment
Much resented by the F.O. and the legation in Tehran, I was able to travel