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'"NO MEDALS THIS TIME" by Sir Tom Hickinbotham, KCMG, KCVO, CIE, OBE' [123r] (245/336)
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.
121 -
brick vails with which they are enclosed. I drove close under the walls and
through the small village and stopped at the stone and cement conduit which
brings the water for the gardens from a distant spring some miles away in the
hills. Naser filled up the radiator with water and then we pushed straight
on because I hoped to reach Suakim by early afternoon and have a combined
lunch and tea.
So far all had gone surprisingly well, but two incidents occurred shortly
after leaving Hagar which were more amusing than serious. Riding down the
track in front of us was a tribesman, his rifle balanced on his left shoulder
and a thin cane in his right hand with which from time to time he belaboured
his mount, a large, white donkey of a type known locally as a Misri or an
Egyptian. In Egypt these same donkeys are called Omanis, which has always
struck me as rather amusing. To the back of the donkey's saddle was a cord
to the other end of which a camel was attached by the wooden peg in its nose.
They were right in the centre of the track and presumably did not hear the
car as they made no attempt to move to one side. The
wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
bed was particu
larly stony on the curve of the road where we overtook them and as I was
reluctant to risk a broken spring, I hooted. The result was astonishing.
The tribesman glanced to his left, saw the car and immeidately raised his
cane in the air with a flourish and brought his legs away from the animal's
sides ready to kick it heavily in the belly, but before the kick could be
delivered or the stick could descend, two things happened simultaneously.
The donkey, catching sight of the cane did not wait for the blow but shot for
ward and the camel, alarmed by the sudden raising of the stick, stopped dead
and threw up its head. Something had to go, but it was not the cord by which
the camel was attached to the saddle. I had expected the wooden plug in the
animal's nostril to fly out but no, it was the old piece of rope that did
duty as a girth which proved unequal to the strain. It broke and the donkey
just shot out from under the saddle, leaving its owner suspended momentarily
in mid-air with nothing but the saddle underneath him, his arm still raised
and his legs still apart. It was the finest example of levitation that I
have ever seen on or off the stage. The moment passed, gravity exerted its
full force and rider and saddle descended into the dust of the track where he
sat, rifle still balance on his left shoulder, too surprised to understand
what had happened. The donkey only went a few paces before stopping to pluck
half-heartedly at a thorn bush and the camel did not move at all. I stopped
the car and hurried to the tribesman's assistance while Salem ran to catch
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' [123r] (245/336), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F226/13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100094411639.0x00002e> [accessed 11 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.