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Hajjiyah Dame Violet Penelope Dickson, DBE (née Lucas-Calcraft; 3 September 1896 – 4 January 1991) was the wife of British colonial administrator H. R. P. Dickson. She lived in Kuwait for 61 years, half of them as a widow, and published several books on the country. She was a keen amateur botanist and had a plant, ''Horwoodia dicksoniae'', named in her honour. ==Life== 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bahrain: British political agents )〕 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Kuwait: British political agents )〕 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. She 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 botanic 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'; Dickson's book appeared 11 years after Fleming first suggested she should write it. As the wife of a British government figure, she 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Violet Dickson ) 〕 Violet Dickson had a son, Saud (died 2005), and a daughter, Zahra Freeth (née Dickson), 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 ''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. Dickson was made Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1942, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1964 and Dame Commander of the Order 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Violet Dickson ) 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Violet Dickson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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