Review: Tea on the Balcony at The Dickson House

Join AWARE on a guided tour and tea on the balcony at the Dickson House, which is located opposite the dhow harbor in Sharq and east of Seif Palace. The house was originally a Kuwaiti home built in 1870, but was given to Britain to use as a residential headquarters. The compound has been expanded several times over the years, but stands as an excellent example of early Kuwaiti architectural styles. This home of the first British political envoy stands as a symbol of the strong political ties between Kuwait and Britain.

After the tour you will enjoy the rest of the time with some tea and snacks on the balcony of the Dickson House watching the sunset over the Arabian Gulf. Numbers are limited. They will meet at the Dickson House tomorrow, May 6 at 4.30pm-6.30pm. A fee of KD 2 will be payable on the day. For more information please contact us at 25335280 or info@aware.com.kw


Lt. Col. H.R.P Dickson

In 1929 he was appointed British Political Agent to Kuwait, and served in this role until 1936. He briefly held this role again in 1941.
Some of his reports have been published in Political Diaries of the Arab World: Persian Gulf 1904-1965. The publishers' description of this volume reads in part: "Perhaps the most idiosyncratic [contributor to the volume] was Lt. Col. H. R. P. Dickson who wrote voluminously in the 1920s and 1930s on his trips into the Saudi hinterland, his meetings with rulers and all the machinations and gossip that sometimes go into political intelligence-gathering."
After retiring from his political career he worked for the Kuwait Oil Company, for which he had been the first Chief Local Representative in Kuwait.

Dickson had a detailed knowledge of bedouin life and customs, and produced two books which are considered valuable chronicles of a now-threatened way of life. These books, The Arab of the Desert: A Glimpse into Badawin Life in Kuwait and Sa'udi Arabia, first published in 1949, and Kuwait and her Neighbours, first published in 1956, have been described as 'monumental', and are now sought-after collector's items.


Dame Violet Dickson

Violet Penelope Lucas-Calcraft was born in Gautby, Lincolnshire, England. Her father was Neville Lucas-Calcraft, a land agent. The 1900 census shows the family were living in Moat House, Gautby: the house was owned by Robert Charles de Gray Vyner, for whom Violet's father worked.
She met her husband Harold Dickson (1881 – 1959) in Marseilles, France, shortly after the end of World War I, where she was working in a bank. She travelled out to meet him in India, where he was stationed and where they were married. Shortly afterwards he was posted to Iraq.
Harold Dickson served as British Political Agent in Bahrain from 1919-1920. He also served in Persia (present-day Iran). In 1929 he was appointed British Political Agent to Kuwait, and served in this role until 1936. He briefly held this role again in 1941.Violet accompanied him on all these postings, and soon became fluent in Arabic. After his retirement from political service, Harold Dickson worked for the Kuwait Oil Company.
Violet Dickson was a keen botanist and published a book on the flora of Bahrain and Kuwait in 1955. She regularly sent wild flower collections to the botanical gardens at Kew Gardens in London, and the desert plant that she introduced to science, Horwoodia dicksoniae (known as khuzama in Arabic), was named in her honour.
She wrote her autobiography, Forty Years in Kuwait, at the urging of Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond series of books. He had travelled to Kuwait in 1960 to research and write a book for the Kuwait Oil Company, and Dame Violet was one of the people he interviewed. Fleming's book, titled State of Excitement, was never published as the Kuwait Oil Company 'did not care for its tone'; Violet Dickson's book appeared 11 years after Fleming first suggested she should write it.
As the wife of a British government figure, Violet was expected to assist her husband in his duties, primarily at social functions and by accompanying him on some of his travels across the region. As a result, she came to know many of the rulers and dignitaries of the region, including King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, (who on one occasion presented her with an oryx, which became a pet), King Faisal of Iraq, four Kuwaiti rulers and many tribal sheikhs. She also dealt frequently with Western diplomats. This contact continued after the death of her husband, as her knowledge of Kuwait and the feuds and rivalries among the kingdom's 600-strong royal family made her an indispensable resource for British ambassadors and visiting diplomats. In 1976 Violet's 80th birthday party was a notable event for the British expatriate community in Kuwait.
Violet Dickson had a son Saud (who died in May 2005), and a daughter Zahra Freeth (née Dickson), who is also an author on Middle Eastern topics. Dame Violet was given the honorific title Umm Saud (Arabic: أم سعود meaning Mother of Saud), and was also known as Umm Kuwait - Mother of Kuwait. She was also given the honorific title Hajjiyah, a term of respect meaning a female who has completed the Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. This is unusual, as non-Muslims are not allowed to perform the Haj.
Violet Dickson was made Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1942, Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1964 and Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 1976. She was awarded the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal awarded by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London (formerly the Royal Central Asian Society) in 1960, for her work among the Bedouin women of Arabia and her study of the flora and fauna of the desert.


The Dickson House Cultural Centre, Kuwait City

The British Political Agency in Kuwait was based in a house that had been built in 1870 for a Kuwaiti merchant. The Dicksons moved in to the house in 1929, and the building served as the British Political Agency until 1935. Dickson lived there until his death in 1959 (he is buried in the British Embassy grounds) and Dame Violet lived there until the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, when she was reluctantly evacuated to Britain. Sadly, Dame Violet died in the UK before the liberation of Kuwait. The house was ransacked during the invasion, but has since been restored by the Kuwaiti National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, and is now a tourist attraction. It is one of few surviving examples of nineteenth century Kuwaiti architecture, with thirty rooms on two floors.

The house of the first British political agent in Kuwait is still standing and has been kept in excellent condition. The Dickson House is located across from the dhow harbor east of Sief Palace. The compound has been expanded several times over the years, but stands as an excellent example of early Kuwaiti architectural styles. An interesting book (available at any good Kuwaiti book shop) to read is one about the life of the British political agent’s widow – Dame Violet Dickson (Umm Saud) who stayed in Kuwait after her husband’s death. She lived in Kuwait for a total of 61 years as a British national, spoke fluent Arabic and named her children with Arabic names, Saud and Zahra. 

A visit to the house is a must it will give you an insight into life in pre-oil Kuwait.


LWDLIK- The guide we had at the Dickson House is the same gentleman who was houseboy to the Dicksons when they were alive. He has fascinating stories to tell. Here are a few he told us.

There is a photo in the house of Lt. Col. Dickson and a Kuwaiti under a tree in the desert. The guide told us that the British were looking high and low for oil and weren't finding it. They knew Kuwait had it but couldn't find it anywhere. They were just about to give up when Dickson had a dream of a tree in the desert looking like the tree in the photo and in the dream he knew he would find oil there. The Brits went out with Dickson looking for the tree. They found a tree fitting that description in Burgan area and oil was then found nearby. And the rest is history. Burgan is the largest oilfield in Kuwait.

There are many pics of Sheikh Mubarak the Great - who killed both his brothers to assume power. Seems both his elder half-brothers (who were next in line to rule Kuwait) were keen on allying with the Ottoman empire so he killed them (one version of the story) and had the British come in as protectorate of the country assuring him as ruler. Kuwait would have been part of the Ottoman Empire or Iraq (Mesopotamia) or Saudi Arabia if this had not happened.

A nice collection of old rupees can be found at the Dickson House which serve as a reminder of the close commercial ties Kuwait had with India. The rupee was the currency used prior to the Kuwaiti dinar.