Edward Nicolls
Encyclopedia
General Sir Edward Nicolls, KCB
(1779 – 5 February 1865) was an Irish officer of the Royal Marines
. Known as "Fighting Nicolls", he had a distinguished career, was involved in numerous actions, and often received serious wounds. For his service, he received medals and honours, reaching the rank of General
. Described as an "impatient and blustering Irishman" by historian Robert Vincent Remini, Nicolls was admired for his courage. Contemporary records and historians down to the 21st century often render the spelling of his name as "Edward Nicholls."
, Ireland, the son of Jonathan Nicolls and Anna Cuppage of Coleraine. Jonathan Nicolls was for a time Controller of Excise for Coleraine. Jonathan Nicolls died in Coleraine in November 1818. Anna Cuppage (1757?–1845) was a daughter of the Reverend Burke Cuppage, Rector of Coleraine, and his wife,the former Miss Kilpatrick. The Reverend Cuppage, Edward Nicoll's maternal grandfather, was a close kinsman and friend of Edmund Burke
. It was the latter who noticed the merit of Anna Cuppage's older brother and secured an appointment for him to to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Thus Lieutenant General William Cuppage (1756–1832) of the Royal Artillery
, was an uncle, and later a Woolwich neighbour, of General and Mrs Edward Nicolls. The children of Jonathan Nicolls and Anna Cuppage included six sons who distinguished themselves as future British officers—notably the oldest, Edward Nicolls; Lieutenant Colonel William Burke Nicolls (1780–1844) of the British Army
's 2nd West India Regiment; and Commander Jonathan Frederick Nicolls of the Royal Navy
(1782–1845). All five of Edward Nicoll's brothers and two of his own sons died in, or as the result of public service. Edward Nicolls was educated at a grammar school in Coleraine and at a private boarding academy in Royal Park near Greenwich
prior to entering the Marines on 24 March 1795. Edward Nicolls was not yet 16 years old when he received his commission as a Second Lieutenant
in His Majesty's Marine Forces.
and captured the French cutter Albion from under the battery at Monte Christe in Santo Domingo
. Albion had a crew of 43 men and was armed with two 4-pounder guns and six swivels
. In the fighting the French captain wounded Nicolls with a pistol shot before being himself killed. The British lost two dead and two wounded, including Nicolls. In 1804 Lieutenant Nicolls led another boat assault in the capture of a French brig. In the same year of 1804 Nicolls led a landing party of Royal Marines in the siege of Dutch forces at Curaçao
. Nicolls and his Marines withstood 28 consecutive days of continuous enemy assaults on their positions.
During 1807 and 1808 Captain Nicolls participated in the siege of Corfu
and in a foray to Egypt. It was during this period, too, that he was honourably mentioned in dispatches for his part in the Dardanelles Operation
. In 1808 he led the boat attack which captured the Italian gunboat
Volpe off Corfu.
In 1809 Captain Nicolls commanded HMS Standard
's marines while the ship participated in the Gunboat War
. On 18 May Nicolls assisted marines and seamen under the command of Captain William Selby of Owen Glendower
in the capture of the island of Anholt
. In the skirmish, a Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance that killed one British marine and wounded two before surrendering. Following the capture of Anholt, Captain Nicolls was briefly assigned to duty as the British military governor of the island.
, Nicolls was posted to Florida as part of an attempt to recruit the Seminole
s as allies against the United States. Sailing from Bermuda
in the summer of 1814, the expedition Nicolls commanded stopped in Spanish Havana
, where it was told not to land in Florida by the Captain General, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca. When Nicolls arrived at Pensacola
, Florida in August, the Spanish Governor, aware of the threat the Americans posed to Florida, cooperated with Nicolls, allowing him to train and drill Creek refugees. Nicolls then participated in an unsuccessful land and naval attack on Fort Bowyer
on 15 September. An American force under Andrew Jackson
defeated Nicolls, taking Pensacola in November, and forced Nicolls to retreat to the Apalachicola River
with freed African-American slaves from Pensacola. There, Nicolls had a fort built at Prospect Bluff (some times called the British Post, later the Negro Fort, replaced still later by Fort Gadsden
), and rallied Indians and refugee ex-slaves living free in Florida, recruiting the latter into a detached unit of the Corps of Colonial Marines
.
At Pensacola on August 29, 1814, Nicolls issued a widely disseminated proclamation to the people of Louisiana, urging them to join forces with the British and Indian Allies against the American government.
Nicolls is mentioned in attempts to recruit Jean Lafitte
to the British cause. At the Battle of New Orleans
on 8 January 1815, Nicolls was attached with some of his men to the brigade commanded by Colonel William Thornton
of the 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers)
. He was the senior officer of the Royal Marines and the senior ranking Major among the British land forces present at the battle. Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane
forbade Nicolls to personally take part in the fighting, fearing that mishap to Nicolls might deprive the British of their most competent officer serving with the Redstick Creeks and Seminoles. The actual battlefield command of the Royal Marines battalion brigaded with Thornton's 85th Foot went to a junior officer, Major Thomas Benjamin Adair. Nicolls's obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review states that "He was the senior major of all the force before New Orleans in 1815, and as such urged his right to lead the battalion of Royal Marines in the assault (as part of Thornton's Brigade), This honour was refused, on the ground that if any accident befell him there would be no other officer competent to command his Indian Army (sic); in consequence of this, he lost the decoration of the Bath, which was conferred on Major Adair, R.M., who so nobly led the battalion." On the same page it was recalled that Nicolls was still suffering from the effects of three serious wounds received in the attack on Fort Bowyer just months earlier. Nicolls never regained the use of his right eye.
On March 15, 1815, an American Army aide-de-camp named Walter Bourke communicated to Major General Thomas Pinckney
that conditions were difficult on the Georgia frontier despite efforts of Brigadier General John Floyd
of the Georgia militia to reinforce American defenses, and the efforts of U.S. Truce Commissioners T. M. Newell and Thomas Spalding
on the Georgia coast to negotiate the return of slaves who had enlisted in, or sought asylum with, the British Corps of Colonial Marines
still at Cumberland Island
under the command of Rear Admiral George Cockburn
. Cockburn was not inclined to voluntarily hand over British military personnel who risked being returned to slavery by the Americans. Cockburn also professed difficulty in communicating news of the Treaty of Ghent
to Nicolls and his forces. There was a whiff of panic in St. Marys
and Savannah
at this time.
Nicolls contributed to diplomatic tensions between the United Kingdom and the United States in the Spanish Floridas over slavery-related issues arising from Jackson's Treaty with the Creeks, the Treaty of Ghent, and Nicolls's attempts to represent the interests of the Native Americans and blacks who had taken up arms on the British side. Writing from HMS Royal Oak, off Mobile Bay, on March 15, 1815, Rear Admiral Pulteney Malcolm
, Cochrane's subordinate commander of the Mobile Squadron, assured Don Mateo Gonzalez Manrique, the Governor at Pensacola, that Post-Captain Robert Cavendish Spencer of HMS Carron, (a son of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
), had been detailed to conduct a strict enquiry into the conduct of Nicolls and Captain Woodbine, respecting the losses in property to Spanish inhabitants of the Floridas. Malcolm believed that in cases where former slaves could not be persuaded to return to their owners, the British government would undertake to remunerate the owners.
Prior to leaving British Post for Great Britain, Nicolls engaged in a heated exchange of letters with U.S. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins
. Hawkins accused Nicolls of being overzealous and of overstepping his authority in his personal defence of Redstick Creeks, Seminoles, and their Marron Creole or Black Allies, who some Americans in authority viewed as nothing more than runaway slaves and lost or unclaimed property.
Nicolls left in the summer of 1815 with the Redstick Creek Prophet, Josiah Francis (or Hillis Hadjo, the Native American Indian spiritual and political leader known for his role in the Battle of Holy Ground
), and an Anglo-Creek-Seminole treaty of Nicolls' own initiative. Nicolls, Woodbine, and a Redstick Creek leader, probably Josiah Francis, arrived at Amelia Island
, in Spanish East Florida on June 7, 1815, where rumours circulated that the officers were seeking to either obtain British possession of the Floridas from Spain, or at least to arm and supply the Florida factions resisting American territorial expansion. In leaving West Florida, according to the U. S. Indian Agent Hawkins, Nicolls had left local forces with the arms and means to resist advancing American encroachments which were leading up to Andrew Jackson's First Seminole War.
In England, Nicolls failed to obtain official support for the Creeks, and Josiah Francis failed to receive official recognition for his credentials as the Redstick Creek emissary from the Foreign Office, although he did receive honorary recognition as a former Colonel of the British Army in Florida as well as publicized encounters with British notables, including the Prince Regent, before returning to Spanish West Florida aboard a British sloop of war in 1816. Nicolls himself, however, was retained on full pay status in the duties of a Captain of Royal Marines with the brevet rank of Major.
In the summer of 1817 Captain George Woodbine, one of Nicoll's former subordinate officers, was present in Spanish East Florida together with the former British soldier and Scottish mercenary lieutenant of Simon Bolivar
, Gregor MacGregor
. Woodbine and Macgregor both left Spanish East Florida to rejoin the Latin American revolutionary movement prior to U.S. military intervention in East Florida. The names of Nicolls, Woodbine, and Macgregor, had become associated with the arming of blacks as soldiers, militiamen, and even as mercenaries. The threat, real or imaginary, was an anathema to North American popular conceptions of the time.
The Niles' Weekly Register of Baltimore also published, between July and October 1818, portions of correspondence between Nicolls and the former auxiliary 2nd Lt Robert Chrystie Armbrister (1797–1818) of the first battalion of the (2nd) British Corps of Colonial Marines
. Armbrister was one of two British subjects executed in the Arbuthnot and Ambrister incident by order of Major General Andrew Jackson following a drumhead trial at Saint Marks in Spanish West Florida in April 1818. The Seminole, or Redstick Creek Prophet, Josiah Francis/Hillis Hadjo, the same Indian Chief who had accompanied Nicolls to England in 1815, and another Seminole leader, Nehemathla Micco, were also summarily executed by the Americans in Spanish territorial waters in April 1818. In the correspondence of Armbrister, assistance is asked of Nicolls to intervene with the British government on behalf of former allies seeking asylum in Spanish West Florida from perceived American wrongdoing and injustice.
. Ascension is a small volcanic island in the South Atlantic, halfway between South America and Africa. In 1815, HMS Zenobia
and HMS Peruvian
took the island to prevent it from being used as a staging post from which to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte from Saint Helena
. From 1815 until Nicolls took over, the Royal Navy
registered the island as a "small Sloop
of 50 or 60 Men", HMS Ascension, since the Navy was forbidden to govern colonies. The island had a garrison of about thirty, with a few families, servants, and liberated Africans. The Royal Navy
came to use the island as a victualling station for ships, particularly those of the West Africa Squadron
(or Preventative Squadron), which were working to suppress the slave trade.
Water was scarce, and an important task for Nicolls was to ensure that the island had a stable source of water. He achieved this by installing systems of pipes and carts to bring water to the settlement from the few springs in the mountains. Food was mostly shipped from England, but some could be procured locally: fish, a few vegetables grown on the island, feral goats and sheep, fishy-tasting eggs from a tern
colony on the island, and turtle meat obtained during the laying season from December to May. Due to Nicolls's efforts in directing the harvest of turtles, turtle meat, an expensive delicacy in England, became so common it was fed to prisoners and pigs, and Marines complained of it. This surfeit of turtle irritated Nicolls's superiors and the Lords of the Admiralty, and when an Admiral ordered Nicolls to stop feeding turtle to prisoners, he started selling or bartering it to visiting ships. With this monotonous diet, men on the island relied on rum for spice. Nicolls understood this, and gave large rations of grog when his men showed "spirited and Soldierlike feelings".
On the confines of the island feuds were vicious, and one surgeon went insane. Pirates were frequently seen off Ascension, keeping the garrison on edge. Nicolls was also busied by many infrastructure projects on the island, building roads, water tanks, a storehouse, and developing the gardens on Green Mountain
. For these efforts, Nicolls had about sixty freed Africans sent to Ascension, and additionally asked for convicts.
Nicolls had many such grand schemes for trade between Britain and its colonies, but these all failed to materialise. These schemes included a plan to grow oak
s in Sierra Leone
for Royal Navy ships, a plan to ship Ascension rocks to England, and a plan to ship New Zealand flax
to England which he discussed in a letter to Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
. On 3 November 1828 Captain William Bate replaced Nicolls as commandant on Ascension.
(now Bioko), a tropical island immediately off the coast of Africa, which the Navy used as a base for operations against the slave trade. Nicolls received the appointment after colonial administrator William Fitzwilliam Owen
had refused the post, and after merchant John Beecroft
was deemed unfit for the post. Owen, however, voiced his dissatisfaction with what he viewed as Nicolls's harsh rule on the island, and Beecroft increased his influence in the area. Nicolls, in turn, attacked Beecroft for his dealings with former slavers. Nicolls's health suffered in Fernando Po and by April 1830 he had left for Ascension. When Nicolls returned to England ill, Beecroft was placed in charge of the island. Tropical illness took a toll on the Europeans at Fernando Po, where hundreds died during the period. Nineteen of the 34 men in Nicoll's first contingent died soon after their arrival, and only five of the original 47 Royal Marines who accompanied him to Fernando Po in 1829 survived two years duty on the station. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls, somewhat restored to health, served a second term as Superintendent of Fernando Po during 1832–1833. Despite his differences with Owen, Nicolls was just as determined to disrupt the slave trade, and equally energetic in his attempts to convince the British government to adopt a more aggressive stance. Frustrated in territorial annexation schemes, he invited the West African rulers of Bimbia, Old Calabar, Camaroon, Malimba, and the Bonny to Fernando Po to form an anti-slavery alliance. To Nicolls' great disappointment, the British government ordered him to evacuate Fernando Po on August 29, 1832, and put an end to operations there. Unfinished work and efforts to provide for the welfare of liberated and displaced slave populations delayed the end of Nicoll's mandate for several months, and the Colonel did not return to England until April 1835.
regarding his refusal to return slaves escaping from there. In a 1842 letter to The Times he says he was accused by the Portuguese governor, Senhor Ferreira, of deliberately enticing slaves to run away and of encouraging 'thieves' and 'murderers'. This charge he denied, asserting that he had never actively encouraged slaves from nearby islands to make the dangerous crossing to Fernando Po: but that if they chose to do so, it was his duty under British law not to return them to slavery. He considered those slaves who killed in the course of their escapes as legally and morally justified in their action; nor did he regard them as thieves for having seized canoes to escape in. He offered to return the canoes however, and informed Ferreira that if the latter could persuade any of the escapees to return voluntarily to a state of slavery, Nicolls would not impede them. He wrote to The Times on the subject because of the debate which followed the Creole case
in which slaves transported aboard an American vessel had taken control of her and forced the crew to take them to a British-run port.
of Marines, Nicolls was promoted to the honorary (British Army Brevet) rank of General
in 1854, months after his Army Brevet promotion to Lieutenant General. In July 1855 he was made Knight Commander of the Bath
(KCB).
While still a young Captain of Marines in 1809, Edward Nicolls married Miss Eleanor Bristow (1792–1880) who was also from northern Ireland. Sir Edward and Lady Eleanor Nicolls appear on the United Kingdom Census 1861
in Greenwich
, where Nicolls is listed as KCB and a retired General of Marines.
The General and Lady Nicolls are believed to have had the following children: Alicia Nicolls (born in 1810); Eleanor Hestor Nicolls (1811–1898, born at Woolwich
, later married Macgregor Laird
); Edwina Anna Nicolls (1814–1902); Jane Mary Nicolls (1819–1901), who married Captain Archibald Douglas William Fletcher RN (1821–1882); Elizabeth Nicolls (1821–1856); Lieutenant Edward Nicolls RN (1821–1844) who died while serving as first lieutenant of HMS Dwarf; and Major Richard Orpin Townsend Nicolls (1823–1862) of the Madras Staff Corps (Indian Army). Edwina Anna married John Hill Williams on 22 June 1853, among their children, daughter Elizabeth married the educator John Richard Blakiston, M.A., (1829–1917) on 6 June 1854, dying in February 1856, without children.
Nicolls died at his residence in Blackheath
, London on 5 February 1865. His widow, Lady Eleanor Nicolls, having been injured in an accident at home on 14 November 1880, died ten days later aged 88.
Note: His Majesty's Royal Marine Forces were redesignated as the Royal Marines (RM) by George III in 1802. In 1855 the Royal Marines became the Royal Marines Light Infantry (RMLI). In 1862 their title was again modified to become the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Sir Edward Nicolls retired from the Royal Marines in 1835 as a Major. To complicate matters, the rank of Major was abolished by the Royal Marines in 1837. In later life Sir Edward Nicolls was generally known by the courtesy title of his Army brevet rank with the qualification "Late Major of the Royal Marines."
Although a titular (Brevet) Lieutenant Colonel
on the British Army List, for purposes of seniority, and receiving an additional pension for serious wounds from 1815 on, General Edward Nicolls was paid as a Royal Marines
Captain
from 1805 until 1823. While Commandant of the garrison on Ascension, and later at Fernando Po, he received the pay of a British Army Lieutenant Colonel
.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(1779 – 5 February 1865) was an Irish officer of the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
. Known as "Fighting Nicolls", he had a distinguished career, was involved in numerous actions, and often received serious wounds. For his service, he received medals and honours, reaching the rank of General
General (United Kingdom)
General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....
. Described as an "impatient and blustering Irishman" by historian Robert Vincent Remini, Nicolls was admired for his courage. Contemporary records and historians down to the 21st century often render the spelling of his name as "Edward Nicholls."
Early life
Edward Nicolls was born in 1779 in ColeraineColeraine
Coleraine is a large town near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is northwest of Belfast and east of Derry, both of which are linked by major roads and railway connections...
, Ireland, the son of Jonathan Nicolls and Anna Cuppage of Coleraine. Jonathan Nicolls was for a time Controller of Excise for Coleraine. Jonathan Nicolls died in Coleraine in November 1818. Anna Cuppage (1757?–1845) was a daughter of the Reverend Burke Cuppage, Rector of Coleraine, and his wife,the former Miss Kilpatrick. The Reverend Cuppage, Edward Nicoll's maternal grandfather, was a close kinsman and friend of Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
. It was the latter who noticed the merit of Anna Cuppage's older brother and secured an appointment for him to to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Thus Lieutenant General William Cuppage (1756–1832) of the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
, was an uncle, and later a Woolwich neighbour, of General and Mrs Edward Nicolls. The children of Jonathan Nicolls and Anna Cuppage included six sons who distinguished themselves as future British officers—notably the oldest, Edward Nicolls; Lieutenant Colonel William Burke Nicolls (1780–1844) of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's 2nd West India Regiment; and Commander Jonathan Frederick Nicolls of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
(1782–1845). All five of Edward Nicoll's brothers and two of his own sons died in, or as the result of public service. Edward Nicolls was educated at a grammar school in Coleraine and at a private boarding academy in Royal Park near Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
prior to entering the Marines on 24 March 1795. Edward Nicolls was not yet 16 years old when he received his commission as a Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in His Majesty's Marine Forces.
Napoleonic Wars
On 5 November 1803, Nicolls took a 12-man cutting-out party in the cutter from HMS BlancheHMS Blanche (1786)
HMS Blanche was a 32-gun Hermione-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was ordered towards the end of the American War of Independence, but only briefly saw service before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. She enjoyed a number of successful cruises against privateers...
and captured the French cutter Albion from under the battery at Monte Christe in Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
. Albion had a crew of 43 men and was armed with two 4-pounder guns and six swivels
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...
. In the fighting the French captain wounded Nicolls with a pistol shot before being himself killed. The British lost two dead and two wounded, including Nicolls. In 1804 Lieutenant Nicolls led another boat assault in the capture of a French brig. In the same year of 1804 Nicolls led a landing party of Royal Marines in the siege of Dutch forces at Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
. Nicolls and his Marines withstood 28 consecutive days of continuous enemy assaults on their positions.
During 1807 and 1808 Captain Nicolls participated in the siege of Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
and in a foray to Egypt. It was during this period, too, that he was honourably mentioned in dispatches for his part in the Dardanelles Operation
Dardanelles Operation
The Dardanelles Operation was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose British demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War ....
. In 1808 he led the boat attack which captured the Italian gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
Volpe off Corfu.
In 1809 Captain Nicolls commanded HMS Standard
HMS Standard (1782)
HMS Standard was a 64-gun Royal Navy third-rate ship of the line, launched on 8 October 1782 at Deptford. She was the last of the 15 Intrepid class vessels, which were built to a design by John Williams.-Early career:...
's marines while the ship participated in the Gunboat War
Gunboat War
The Gunboat War was the naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the conventional Royal Navy...
. On 18 May Nicolls assisted marines and seamen under the command of Captain William Selby of Owen Glendower
HMS Owen Glendower (1808)
HMS Owen Glendower was a Royal Navy 36-gun fifth-rate Apollo class frigate launched in 1808 and disposed of in 1884...
in the capture of the island of Anholt
Anholt (Denmark)
Anholt is a Danish island in the Kattegat, midway between Jutland and Sweden, with 171 permanent residents as of 1 January 2010. It is seven miles long and about four miles wide at its widest and covers an area of 21,75 km². Anholt is part of Norddjurs municipality in Region Midtjylland...
. In the skirmish, a Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance that killed one British marine and wounded two before surrendering. Following the capture of Anholt, Captain Nicolls was briefly assigned to duty as the British military governor of the island.
War of 1812
During the War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, Nicolls was posted to Florida as part of an attempt to recruit the Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
s as allies against the United States. Sailing from Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
in the summer of 1814, the expedition Nicolls commanded stopped in Spanish Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, where it was told not to land in Florida by the Captain General, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca. When Nicolls arrived at Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, Florida in August, the Spanish Governor, aware of the threat the Americans posed to Florida, cooperated with Nicolls, allowing him to train and drill Creek refugees. Nicolls then participated in an unsuccessful land and naval attack on Fort Bowyer
Fort Bowyer
Fort Bowyer was a short-lived earthen and stockade fortification erected by the United States Army on Mobile Point, near the mouth of Mobile Bay in Baldwin County, Alabama. Built during the War of 1812, the fort was the site of two attacks by the British. The first, unsuccessful, attack led to the...
on 15 September. An American force under Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
defeated Nicolls, taking Pensacola in November, and forced Nicolls to retreat to the Apalachicola River
Apalachicola River
The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 112 mi long in the State of Florida. This river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its farthest headstream in northeast Georgia is approximately 500...
with freed African-American slaves from Pensacola. There, Nicolls had a fort built at Prospect Bluff (some times called the British Post, later the Negro Fort, replaced still later by Fort Gadsden
Fort Gadsden
Fort Gadsden is located in Franklin County, Florida, on the Apalachicola River. The site contains the ruins of two forts, and has been known by several other names at various times, including Prospect Bluff Fort, Nichol's Fort, British Post, Negro Fort, African Fort, and Fort Apalachicola.Listed...
), and rallied Indians and refugee ex-slaves living free in Florida, recruiting the latter into a detached unit of the Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines were raised from former slaves as auxiliary units of the Royal Marines for service in the Americas: Two of these units were raised and subsequently disbanded...
.
At Pensacola on August 29, 1814, Nicolls issued a widely disseminated proclamation to the people of Louisiana, urging them to join forces with the British and Indian Allies against the American government.
Nicolls is mentioned in attempts to recruit Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte was a pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his elder brother, Pierre, spelled their last name Laffite, but English-language documents of the time used "Lafitte", and this is the commonly seen spelling in the United States, including for places...
to the British cause. At the Battle of New Orleans
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
on 8 January 1815, Nicolls was attached with some of his men to the brigade commanded by Colonel William Thornton
William Thornton (British Army officer)
Lieutenant General Sir William Thornton KCB was a British Army officer who served as Lieutenant Governor of Jersey.-Military career:...
of the 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers)
85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers)
The 85th Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment. During the Childers Reforms it was united with the 53rd Regiment of Foot to form the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.-Service history:...
. He was the senior officer of the Royal Marines and the senior ranking Major among the British land forces present at the battle. Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
forbade Nicolls to personally take part in the fighting, fearing that mishap to Nicolls might deprive the British of their most competent officer serving with the Redstick Creeks and Seminoles. The actual battlefield command of the Royal Marines battalion brigaded with Thornton's 85th Foot went to a junior officer, Major Thomas Benjamin Adair. Nicolls's obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review states that "He was the senior major of all the force before New Orleans in 1815, and as such urged his right to lead the battalion of Royal Marines in the assault (as part of Thornton's Brigade), This honour was refused, on the ground that if any accident befell him there would be no other officer competent to command his Indian Army (sic); in consequence of this, he lost the decoration of the Bath, which was conferred on Major Adair, R.M., who so nobly led the battalion." On the same page it was recalled that Nicolls was still suffering from the effects of three serious wounds received in the attack on Fort Bowyer just months earlier. Nicolls never regained the use of his right eye.
On March 15, 1815, an American Army aide-de-camp named Walter Bourke communicated to Major General Thomas Pinckney
Thomas Pinckney
Thomas Pinckney was an early American statesman, diplomat and veteran of both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.-Early life in the military:...
that conditions were difficult on the Georgia frontier despite efforts of Brigadier General John Floyd
John Floyd (Georgia politician)
John Floyd was a United States Representative from Georgia. He was born in Beaufort, South Carolina where he learned carpentry...
of the Georgia militia to reinforce American defenses, and the efforts of U.S. Truce Commissioners T. M. Newell and Thomas Spalding
Thomas Spalding
Thomas Spalding was a United States Representative from Georgia. He was born in Frederica, St. Simons Island, Glynn County, Georgia. He attended the common schools of Georgia and Florida and a private school in Massachusetts. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1795, but did not practice...
on the Georgia coast to negotiate the return of slaves who had enlisted in, or sought asylum with, the British Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines were raised from former slaves as auxiliary units of the Royal Marines for service in the Americas: Two of these units were raised and subsequently disbanded...
still at Cumberland Island
Cumberland Island
Cumberland Island is one of the Sea Islands. Cumberland is the largest in terms of continuously exposed land area of Georgia's barrier islands. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia and is part of Camden County...
under the command of Rear Admiral George Cockburn
George Cockburn
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet GCB was a British naval commander of the late 18th through the mid-19th centuries. He held important commands during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and eventually rose to become Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord.-Naval...
. Cockburn was not inclined to voluntarily hand over British military personnel who risked being returned to slavery by the Americans. Cockburn also professed difficulty in communicating news of the Treaty of Ghent
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
to Nicolls and his forces. There was a whiff of panic in St. Marys
St. Marys, Georgia
-See also:*Cumberland Island*St. Marys Historic District*St. Marys Railroad-External links:***...
and Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
at this time.
Nicolls contributed to diplomatic tensions between the United Kingdom and the United States in the Spanish Floridas over slavery-related issues arising from Jackson's Treaty with the Creeks, the Treaty of Ghent, and Nicolls's attempts to represent the interests of the Native Americans and blacks who had taken up arms on the British side. Writing from HMS Royal Oak, off Mobile Bay, on March 15, 1815, Rear Admiral Pulteney Malcolm
Pulteney Malcolm
Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm GCB GCMG was a British naval officer. He was born at Douglan, near Langholm, Scotland, on 20 February 1768, the third son of George Malcolm of Burnfoot, Langholm, in Dumfriesshire, and his wife Margaret, the sister of Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley...
, Cochrane's subordinate commander of the Mobile Squadron, assured Don Mateo Gonzalez Manrique, the Governor at Pensacola, that Post-Captain Robert Cavendish Spencer of HMS Carron, (a son of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer KG PC FRS FSA , styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British Whig politician...
), had been detailed to conduct a strict enquiry into the conduct of Nicolls and Captain Woodbine, respecting the losses in property to Spanish inhabitants of the Floridas. Malcolm believed that in cases where former slaves could not be persuaded to return to their owners, the British government would undertake to remunerate the owners.
Prior to leaving British Post for Great Britain, Nicolls engaged in a heated exchange of letters with U.S. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins
Benjamin Hawkins
Benjamin Hawkins was an American planter, statesman, and United States Indian agent . He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States Senator from North Carolina, having grown up among the planter elite...
. Hawkins accused Nicolls of being overzealous and of overstepping his authority in his personal defence of Redstick Creeks, Seminoles, and their Marron Creole or Black Allies, who some Americans in authority viewed as nothing more than runaway slaves and lost or unclaimed property.
Nicolls left in the summer of 1815 with the Redstick Creek Prophet, Josiah Francis (or Hillis Hadjo, the Native American Indian spiritual and political leader known for his role in the Battle of Holy Ground
Battle of Holy Ground
The Battle of Holy Ground, or Battle of Econochaca, was a battle fought on December 23, 1813 between the United States militia and the Red Stick Creek Indians during the Creek War. The battle took place at Econochaca, the site of a fortified encampment established in the summer of 1813 by Josiah...
), and an Anglo-Creek-Seminole treaty of Nicolls' own initiative. Nicolls, Woodbine, and a Redstick Creek leader, probably Josiah Francis, arrived at Amelia Island
Amelia Island
Amelia Island is one of the southernmost of the Sea Islands, a chain of barrier islands that stretches along the east coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida. It is long and approximately 4 miles wide at its widest point. Amelia Island is situated off the coast in Nassau County,...
, in Spanish East Florida on June 7, 1815, where rumours circulated that the officers were seeking to either obtain British possession of the Floridas from Spain, or at least to arm and supply the Florida factions resisting American territorial expansion. In leaving West Florida, according to the U. S. Indian Agent Hawkins, Nicolls had left local forces with the arms and means to resist advancing American encroachments which were leading up to Andrew Jackson's First Seminole War.
In England, Nicolls failed to obtain official support for the Creeks, and Josiah Francis failed to receive official recognition for his credentials as the Redstick Creek emissary from the Foreign Office, although he did receive honorary recognition as a former Colonel of the British Army in Florida as well as publicized encounters with British notables, including the Prince Regent, before returning to Spanish West Florida aboard a British sloop of war in 1816. Nicolls himself, however, was retained on full pay status in the duties of a Captain of Royal Marines with the brevet rank of Major.
In the summer of 1817 Captain George Woodbine, one of Nicoll's former subordinate officers, was present in Spanish East Florida together with the former British soldier and Scottish mercenary lieutenant of Simon Bolivar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
, Gregor MacGregor
Gregor MacGregor
Gregor MacGregor was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, land speculator, and colonizer who fought in the South American struggle for independence. Upon his return to England in 1820, he claimed to be cacique of Poyais...
. Woodbine and Macgregor both left Spanish East Florida to rejoin the Latin American revolutionary movement prior to U.S. military intervention in East Florida. The names of Nicolls, Woodbine, and Macgregor, had become associated with the arming of blacks as soldiers, militiamen, and even as mercenaries. The threat, real or imaginary, was an anathema to North American popular conceptions of the time.
The Niles' Weekly Register of Baltimore also published, between July and October 1818, portions of correspondence between Nicolls and the former auxiliary 2nd Lt Robert Chrystie Armbrister (1797–1818) of the first battalion of the (2nd) British Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines were raised from former slaves as auxiliary units of the Royal Marines for service in the Americas: Two of these units were raised and subsequently disbanded...
. Armbrister was one of two British subjects executed in the Arbuthnot and Ambrister incident by order of Major General Andrew Jackson following a drumhead trial at Saint Marks in Spanish West Florida in April 1818. The Seminole, or Redstick Creek Prophet, Josiah Francis/Hillis Hadjo, the same Indian Chief who had accompanied Nicolls to England in 1815, and another Seminole leader, Nehemathla Micco, were also summarily executed by the Americans in Spanish territorial waters in April 1818. In the correspondence of Armbrister, assistance is asked of Nicolls to intervene with the British government on behalf of former allies seeking asylum in Spanish West Florida from perceived American wrongdoing and injustice.
Ascension Island
In 1823, Nicolls became the first Royal Marines commandant of Ascension IslandAscension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
. Ascension is a small volcanic island in the South Atlantic, halfway between South America and Africa. In 1815, HMS Zenobia
HMS Zenobia (1807)
HMS Zenobia was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched 7 October 1807 by Brindley at King’s Lynn. Although she served during the Napoleonic Wars she is known for her role in two events, the claiming of Ascension Island for Great Britain in 1815, and the naming of the Saumarez Reefs in 1823....
and HMS Peruvian
HMS Peruvian (1808)
HMS Peruvian was an 18-gun launched in 1808 at Parson's Yard, Warsash, England. She was the first naval vessel built at that yard. Peruvian captured two American privateers and participated in an expedition up the Penobscot River during the War of 1812. Then she claimed Ascension Island for Great...
took the island to prevent it from being used as a staging post from which to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte from Saint Helena
Saint Helena
Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...
. From 1815 until Nicolls took over, the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
registered the island as a "small Sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
of 50 or 60 Men", HMS Ascension, since the Navy was forbidden to govern colonies. The island had a garrison of about thirty, with a few families, servants, and liberated Africans. The Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
came to use the island as a victualling station for ships, particularly those of the West Africa Squadron
West Africa Squadron
The Royal Navy established the West Africa Squadron at substantial expense in 1808 after Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The squadron's task was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa...
(or Preventative Squadron), which were working to suppress the slave trade.
Water was scarce, and an important task for Nicolls was to ensure that the island had a stable source of water. He achieved this by installing systems of pipes and carts to bring water to the settlement from the few springs in the mountains. Food was mostly shipped from England, but some could be procured locally: fish, a few vegetables grown on the island, feral goats and sheep, fishy-tasting eggs from a tern
Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...
colony on the island, and turtle meat obtained during the laying season from December to May. Due to Nicolls's efforts in directing the harvest of turtles, turtle meat, an expensive delicacy in England, became so common it was fed to prisoners and pigs, and Marines complained of it. This surfeit of turtle irritated Nicolls's superiors and the Lords of the Admiralty, and when an Admiral ordered Nicolls to stop feeding turtle to prisoners, he started selling or bartering it to visiting ships. With this monotonous diet, men on the island relied on rum for spice. Nicolls understood this, and gave large rations of grog when his men showed "spirited and Soldierlike feelings".
On the confines of the island feuds were vicious, and one surgeon went insane. Pirates were frequently seen off Ascension, keeping the garrison on edge. Nicolls was also busied by many infrastructure projects on the island, building roads, water tanks, a storehouse, and developing the gardens on Green Mountain
Green Mountain
Green Mountain is a common name for "The Peak", the highest point, on Ascension Island which has gained some fame for claims that it is one of very few large-scale artificial forests.-History and Vegetation:...
. For these efforts, Nicolls had about sixty freed Africans sent to Ascension, and additionally asked for convicts.
Nicolls had many such grand schemes for trade between Britain and its colonies, but these all failed to materialise. These schemes included a plan to grow oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
s in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
for Royal Navy ships, a plan to ship Ascension rocks to England, and a plan to ship New Zealand flax
New Zealand flax
New Zealand flax describes common New Zealand perennial plants Phormium tenax and Phormium cookianum, known by the Māori names harakeke and wharariki respectively...
to England which he discussed in a letter to Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst KG PC was a British politician.-Background and education:Lord Bathurst was the elder son of Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, by his wife Tryphena, daughter of Thomas Scawen...
. On 3 November 1828 Captain William Bate replaced Nicolls as commandant on Ascension.
Fernando Po
In 1829, Nicolls was appointed Superintendent of Fernando PoBioko
Bioko is an island 32 km off the west coast of Africa, specifically Cameroon, in the Gulf of Guinea. It is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea with a population of 124,000 and an area of . It is volcanic with its highest peak the Pico Basile at .-Geography:Bioko has a total area of...
(now Bioko), a tropical island immediately off the coast of Africa, which the Navy used as a base for operations against the slave trade. Nicolls received the appointment after colonial administrator William Fitzwilliam Owen
William Fitzwilliam Owen
Vice Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen , was a British naval officer and explorer. He is best known for his exploration of the west and east African coasts, discovery of the Seaflower Channel off the coast of Sumatra and for surveying the Canadian Great Lakes...
had refused the post, and after merchant John Beecroft
John Beecroft
John Beecroft was an explorer, governor of Fernando Po and British Consul of the Bight of Benin and Biafra.-Early life:Beecroft was born in England near the port of Whitby, Yorkshire...
was deemed unfit for the post. Owen, however, voiced his dissatisfaction with what he viewed as Nicolls's harsh rule on the island, and Beecroft increased his influence in the area. Nicolls, in turn, attacked Beecroft for his dealings with former slavers. Nicolls's health suffered in Fernando Po and by April 1830 he had left for Ascension. When Nicolls returned to England ill, Beecroft was placed in charge of the island. Tropical illness took a toll on the Europeans at Fernando Po, where hundreds died during the period. Nineteen of the 34 men in Nicoll's first contingent died soon after their arrival, and only five of the original 47 Royal Marines who accompanied him to Fernando Po in 1829 survived two years duty on the station. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls, somewhat restored to health, served a second term as Superintendent of Fernando Po during 1832–1833. Despite his differences with Owen, Nicolls was just as determined to disrupt the slave trade, and equally energetic in his attempts to convince the British government to adopt a more aggressive stance. Frustrated in territorial annexation schemes, he invited the West African rulers of Bimbia, Old Calabar, Camaroon, Malimba, and the Bonny to Fernando Po to form an anti-slavery alliance. To Nicolls' great disappointment, the British government ordered him to evacuate Fernando Po on August 29, 1832, and put an end to operations there. Unfinished work and efforts to provide for the welfare of liberated and displaced slave populations delayed the end of Nicoll's mandate for several months, and the Colonel did not return to England until April 1835.
Attitude to slavery
During his time in control of Fernando Po, Nicolls clashed with the Portuguese authorities on the neighbouring islands of São Tomé and PríncipeSão Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off...
regarding his refusal to return slaves escaping from there. In a 1842 letter to The Times he says he was accused by the Portuguese governor, Senhor Ferreira, of deliberately enticing slaves to run away and of encouraging 'thieves' and 'murderers'. This charge he denied, asserting that he had never actively encouraged slaves from nearby islands to make the dangerous crossing to Fernando Po: but that if they chose to do so, it was his duty under British law not to return them to slavery. He considered those slaves who killed in the course of their escapes as legally and morally justified in their action; nor did he regard them as thieves for having seized canoes to escape in. He offered to return the canoes however, and informed Ferreira that if the latter could persuade any of the escapees to return voluntarily to a state of slavery, Nicolls would not impede them. He wrote to The Times on the subject because of the debate which followed the Creole case
Creole case
The Creole case was the result of a slave rebellion in 1841 on board the Creole, a ship involved in the United States coastwise slave trade.-The revolt:...
in which slaves transported aboard an American vessel had taken control of her and forced the crew to take them to a British-run port.
Later life and family
As a retired MajorMajor
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
of Marines, Nicolls was promoted to the honorary (British Army Brevet) rank of General
General (United Kingdom)
General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....
in 1854, months after his Army Brevet promotion to Lieutenant General. In July 1855 he was made Knight Commander of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(KCB).
While still a young Captain of Marines in 1809, Edward Nicolls married Miss Eleanor Bristow (1792–1880) who was also from northern Ireland. Sir Edward and Lady Eleanor Nicolls appear on the United Kingdom Census 1861
United Kingdom Census 1861
The United Kingdom Census of 1861 recorded the people residing in every household on the night of 7 April 1861, and was the third of the UK censuses to include details of household members.-See also:*Census in the United Kingdom...
in Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
, where Nicolls is listed as KCB and a retired General of Marines.
The General and Lady Nicolls are believed to have had the following children: Alicia Nicolls (born in 1810); Eleanor Hestor Nicolls (1811–1898, born at Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
, later married Macgregor Laird
Macgregor Laird
Macgregor Laird was a Scottish merchant pioneer of British trade on the River Niger.Laird was born at Greenock, the younger son of William Laird, founder of the Birkenhead firm of shipbuilders of that name...
); Edwina Anna Nicolls (1814–1902); Jane Mary Nicolls (1819–1901), who married Captain Archibald Douglas William Fletcher RN (1821–1882); Elizabeth Nicolls (1821–1856); Lieutenant Edward Nicolls RN (1821–1844) who died while serving as first lieutenant of HMS Dwarf; and Major Richard Orpin Townsend Nicolls (1823–1862) of the Madras Staff Corps (Indian Army). Edwina Anna married John Hill Williams on 22 June 1853, among their children, daughter Elizabeth married the educator John Richard Blakiston, M.A., (1829–1917) on 6 June 1854, dying in February 1856, without children.
Nicolls died at his residence in Blackheath
Blackheath, London
Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...
, London on 5 February 1865. His widow, Lady Eleanor Nicolls, having been injured in an accident at home on 14 November 1880, died ten days later aged 88.
Promotions, awards, and titles
Nicolls's promotions are noted in the Hart's Annual Army List editions of 1840 through 1865. The commissions of 18th and 19th century officers of British Marines were issued by appointment and promotions in the corps respected seniority. Appointments and promotions were not open to purchase.- Second LieutenantSecond LieutenantSecond lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
(H.M. Marine Forces) 24 March 1795. - First LieutenantFirst LieutenantFirst lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
(H.M. Marine Forces) 27 January 1796.
Note: His Majesty's Royal Marine Forces were redesignated as the Royal Marines (RM) by George III in 1802. In 1855 the Royal Marines became the Royal Marines Light Infantry (RMLI). In 1862 their title was again modified to become the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Sir Edward Nicolls retired from the Royal Marines in 1835 as a Major. To complicate matters, the rank of Major was abolished by the Royal Marines in 1837. In later life Sir Edward Nicolls was generally known by the courtesy title of his Army brevet rank with the qualification "Late Major of the Royal Marines."
- For his dashing courage in the action of 5 November 1803, 1st Lt Nicolls was awarded by the committee of Lloyds with a sword valued at £30. On the same occasion a naval officer who had taken no part in the action was promoted in rank by application to the Admiralty.
- CaptainCaptainCaptain or The Captain is derived from the Greek word katepánō which was a senior Byzantine military rank and office.It may refer to:...
(Royal Marines) 25 July 1805. - Specially mentioned in the "Gazette" in 1807, 1808, and 1809.
- MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
by Brevet (British Army List) 8 August 1810.- Lieutenant ColonelLieutenant colonelLieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
(Local Rank by authority of VADM Cochrane as Commander of a battalion of the (Second) Corps of Colonial MarinesCorps of Colonial MarinesCorps of Colonial Marines were raised from former slaves as auxiliary units of the Royal Marines for service in the Americas: Two of these units were raised and subsequently disbanded...
, from July 1814 in the Bahamas until after his departure from Spanish West Florida in May 1815.
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Major
- Awarded a pension of £250 annually on 28 December 1815 for a total of 24 serious battle wounds suffered; and awarded a 2nd sword by Britain's Patriotic Fund.
- Lieutenant ColonelLieutenant colonelLieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
by Brevet (British Army List) 12 August 1819.
- Lieutenant Colonel
Although a titular (Brevet) Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
on the British Army List, for purposes of seniority, and receiving an additional pension for serious wounds from 1815 on, General Edward Nicolls was paid as a Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
Captain
Captain
Captain or The Captain is derived from the Greek word katepánō which was a senior Byzantine military rank and office.It may refer to:...
from 1805 until 1823. While Commandant of the garrison on Ascension, and later at Fernando Po, he received the pay of a British Army Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
.
- MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
(Royal Marines) confirmed 8 May 1828; - MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
(Royal Marines) on reserve half pay status from 8 April 1829 until 15 May 1835 when placed in the pay status of a Royal Marines Major on full retired pay.- 3 November 1840 War Office (Brevet) of ColonelColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
(British Army List), as a "late MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
" of the Royal MarinesRoyal MarinesThe Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
, to date from 10 January 1837.
- 3 November 1840 War Office (Brevet) of Colonel
- Awarded a good-service pension of £150-a-year on 30 June 1842.
- Major GeneralMajor GeneralMajor general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
(British Army List) 9 November 1846. - Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant GeneralLieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
(British Army List) 20 June 1854. - 20 June 1855 Brevetted GeneralGeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
(British Army List) to date from 28 November 1854 in conformity with Her Majesty's Order in Council of the 13th of September 1854.
- Major General
- KCBOrder of the BathThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
5 July 1855.