IOR/R/15/2/1030

The file relates to the service of Major Tom Hickinbotham as Political Agent, Kuwait.

The papers consist of invoices, receipts, correspondence, telegrams, and personal letters, and cover the following topics: travel arrangements, expenses and allowances; cost of transporting personal effects; accommodation; provision of a guide to places of interest in Kuwait; the holding of a licence for a wireless/radio set, September to October 1941 and September 1942; leave; membership of the Magwa Club (for staff of the Kuwait Oil Company); invitations to events; invitations to dinner; medical fees; hiring of a cook; the whereabouts of a British officer; the ill-health of a friend in Kuwait; expressions of condolences; correspondence with banks; application for a military pass; Christmas and New Year messages; a complaint concerning a lack of co-operation from a member of the Kuwait Oil Company, December 1942; telegrams of congratulations; and invoices for books, clothes, wool, cloth, alcohol, cigarettes, tyres, automobile parts, ice, fruit, general provisions, and household goods.

The file includes correspondence in Arabic and printed invoices and letterheads in Arabic.

Visual material of note in the file includes: a mechanically printed and photographically illustrated eight-page Australian forces kniting pattern booklet (folios 37-37c) printed by E. J. McAlister & Co., Printers, Adelaide; a mechanically printed cheque from the Imperial Bank of Persia (folio 86a) printed by Waterlow & Sons Limited, London; a mechanically printed receipt from 'Naraindas & Co., Automobile Engineers, Karachi'; and a mechanically printed invoice in colour supplied by 'M/s. Tarachand Mulchand' featuring an illustration of a bottle of 'Atkinsons Hair Oil'.

The last item of correspondence in the file is dated 20 October 1943. The overall date range is supplied by an entry in the notes at the rear of the file.