Trucial Oman Scouts was originally formed as Trucial Oman Levies in 1950s
TOL was to defende Oman that had no army, roads or communications
Their role expanded over time, eventualy becoming the UAE's Army in 1971
TOS in the Desert
Image by Wheel Change
Peter H Clayton founded Dubai Police and played a key role in maintaining the territorial integrity of Abu Dhabi during the Buraimi dispute.
Peter was a member of the Trucial Oman Levies, later the Trucial Oman Scouts, stationed in the Trucial States between 1954 and 1957.
Fluent in Arabic, he dressed as a Bedouin and assumed the name Sultan bin Hamis while in the Trucial States. He was a close friend of Sheikh Zayed, founding President of the UAE.
Fluent in Arabic, he dressed as a Bedouin and assumed the name Sultan bin Hamis while in the Trucial States. He was a close friend of Sheikh Zayed, founding President of the UAE.
Peter Clayton's life was an adventure from the beginning. He was born in Croydon, south London, but was soon whisked off to spend his early childhood in Maadi, Egypt. His parents both spoke fluent Arabic and his father worked for the Geological Survey of Egypt.
He moved back to the UK in 1936 and was conscripted into the army in 1949. After a period at Sandhurst, he joined the 1st Battalion the Queen's Royal Regiment in Germany as a motor transport officer.
Clayton studied Arabic at the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies at Shemlan, Lebanon, in 1953. The institution was then regarded as a "school for spies", and such was his grasp of the language that he was commonly mistaken for an Iraqi.
He joined the Trucial Oman Levies in 1954, about the time the Saudi Emir Turki bin Ataishan occupied the village of Hamasa, near what is known today as Al Ain. Clayton's role was to travel daily to visit the emir and persuade him to leave.
He was given the MBE for his efforts in brokering an end to the Buraimi crisis.
"Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum wanted a police force in Dubai and Mr Clayton was the man for the job," said Dr Saif bin Aboud Al Bedwawi, a historian in Ajman who attended the Scouts' boys school in 1966.
"Mr Clayton started the police force with just a few Somalis, a few Baluchis and a few locals. The crimes back then weren't so serious, just a few cases like theft. However, he's famous among the Dubai Police commanders. They still regard him highly."
Back then, life in the Trucial States was tough with only a handful of roads, said Michael Curtis, a former Scout and author.
"The camps were the most ghastly places," said Mr Curtis, who is 72 and lives in the south-east of England. "The greatest joy was to come into the headquarters for squadron commanders conferences, where everything was air conditioned, including the lavatories."
Clayton left the Emirates in 1957 and was married a year later to Pamela Passmore, a doctor. Patrick was born in 1959 and the family moved to Bahrain, where Clayton was a senior desert intelligence officer.
He stayed in contact with old friends from the UAE, including his old military comrade and close friend, Ali bin Azayez. Patrick was called "Abdullah" by friends as they could not pronounce his name. Clayton Sr became "Abu Abdullah".
Peter Clayton died on July 19 after suffering from cancer.
At his funeral in Plymouth, in the south-west of England, on Friday, his son Patrick Clayton poured desert sand on his grave and said the words "Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim" ("In the name of God, the most Gracious, the most Merciful" - words that brought his father great comfort in his final days.
"My father loved the Emirates and he tried to get back whenever he could," said Mr Clayton. "He was always really happier there than anywhere else."
Above adapted from an article by Martin Croucher in The National Aug 5th 2011