A Collection of Medals formed by the Reverend Canon Nigel Nicholson, OStJ, DL
Nicholson saw further active service on the North West Frontier of India as Chief of Staff for the Tirah Campaign 1897-98, and was Mentioned in General Sir William Lockhart’s Despatch of 29 March 1898 for his ‘brilliant abilities’. For his services with the Tirah Field Force he was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and the following year was appointed Adjutant-General of India.
Nicholson next saw service in South Africa during the Boer War, where he again served as Military Secretary to Lord Roberts, and was granted the local rank of Major-General. He was appointed Director of Transport on 18 February 1900, and was Mentioned in Lord Roberts’ Despatch of 31 March 1900: ‘Sir William Nicholson undertook, at my request, organisation of a transport department in the limited time available; he performed this duty with conspicuous ability.’ He was present at the Battle of Paardeberg and at the actions at Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Vet and Zand Rivers, and in the operations near Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Diamond Hill; and in the operations in the Transvaal east of Pretoria during the latter half of 1900.
Nicholson returned to London in December 1900, and was appointed Director-General of Mobilisation and Military Intelligence at Headquarters on 1 May 1901, being promoted Lieutenant-General on 4 November of that year. Three years later he served as Chief Military Attaché to the Imperial Japanese Army in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War, before being appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar on 1 March 1905.
On 18 December 1905 Nicholson was appointed Quartermaster-General to the Forces and on 1 March 1906 was appointed a Member of the Army Council. He was promoted General on 23 October 1906.
Nicholson was appointed Chief of the General Staff on 2 April 1908, and was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in that year’s Birthday Honours’ List. His role was re-designated Chief of the Imperial General Staff in November 1909, and as C.I.G.S. Nicholson was closely involved in the reorganisation of the British Army and the consolidation of the Territorial Force.
In 1910 Nicholson was appointed Aide-de-Camp General to H.M. the King, and in July of that year took part in the funeral procession of H.M. King Edward VII. He was promoted Field Marshal on 19 June 1911, and retired as C.I.G.S. in March 1912, being raised to the peerage as Baron Nicholson, of Roundhay, in the County of York, on 4 October 1912.
Following the outbreak of the Great War Nicholson served on the Committee of Imperial Defence, and also served as Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers. He died at home in London on 13 September 1918, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery
Lord Nicholson married Victorie d’Allier in 1871. They had no children, and the peerage became extinct upon his death.
Nicholson’s career is unusual in that he held the highest rank in the British Army without every having commanded a unit or a formation, although he had held senior appointments of great operational responsibility in the field. He was a close friend of both Lord Roberts and Winston Churchill, and was held in high regard by both of them; it is reputed that Roberts only agreed to go to South Africa during the Boer War provided that Nicholson would go with him, and as a further sign of the confidences that they held the draft of Robert’s letter of resignation as Commander-in-Chief in 1905 is written in Nicholson’s handwriting. Churchill, writing of his own absorption own military affairs as a minister in 1911, makes generous acknowledgement of the help given him by Nicholson: ‘I now begin to make an intensive study of the military position of Europe. The Chief of the General Staff, Sir William Nicholson, was an old friend of mine and I had served with him as a young officer on Sir William Lockhart’s staff at the end of the Tirah Expedition in 1898. He wrote fine broad appreciations and preached a clear and stay doctrine.’ (The World Crisis 1911-14 refers).
Sold with copied research, including a letter written at the time of the sale of these medals at Sotheby’s in 1978 which states that ‘General Sir William Nicholson, who was to join the Oceana at Marseilles, has lost his luggage and medals’, thereby confirming the fact that duplicate medals were issued.
137
Five: Lieutenant-Colonel R. W. Nicholson, 19th Hussars
Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, undated reverse, 1 clasp, El-Teb_Tamaai (Lieut: R. W. Nicholson. 19th. Hussars.); India General Service 1895-1902, 1 clasp, Relief of Chitral 1895 (Captn. R. W. Nicholson Comst. Transpt. Deptt. Bo: Cd.) partially officially re-engraved; British War Medal 1914-20 (Lt. Col. R. W. Nicholson.); Delhi Durbar 1911, silver, unnamed as issued; Khedive’s Star 1884, unnamed as issued, contact marks and light pitting, generally very fine and better (5)
£400-£500
Ralph Wise Nicholson was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Kilkenny Militia on 21 February 1880, before transferring to the 19th Hussars in the ranks of Lieutenant on 2 August 1882. He served with the 19th Hussars in the Sudan Expedition of 1884, where he was present at the engagements of El Teb and Tamaai, and in the Nile Expedition of 1884-85 (entitled to clasp The Nile 1884-85). Proceeding to India, he transferred to the Bombay Staff Corps on 29 January 1885, was promoted Captain on 2 August 1893, and served with the Chitral Relief Force under Sir Robert Low in 1895. He was promoted Major on 10 July 1901, and was advanced to his ultimate rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on 2 August 1908.
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