Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookn on duty as observing officer in the trenches. His brother (who was wounded the previous Wednesday) is quite heart-broken, as indeed we all are. I have always considered your two sons the two best young officers in my brigade." His two brothers, Capt. A. Falkner Nicholson and Capt. Malcolm Nicholson, are both (1916) serving with the R.F.A. [Illustration: =Basil Lee Nicholson.=] =NICHOLSON, DAVID BEVERIDGE=, Private, No. 3035, 1/5th Battn. (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles) Royal Scots (Lothian Regt.) (T.F.), 2nd _s._ of Rev. Thomas Brown Nicholson, of Chalmers Street, Dunfermline, Minister of the United Free Church of Scotland, M.A., by his wife, Barbara Stevenson, dau. of the late David Beveridge, of Kingskettle; _b._ Hamilton, co. Lanark, 22 Dec. 1895; educ. Dunfermline High School, and was afterwards engaged as an apprentice with Oliver Melville, Robb & Scott, Electrical Engineers, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy. In Dec. 1914 he enlisted in the Queen's Edinburgh Rifles, and was chosen as one of a draft in May, 1915, to go to Gallipoli to strengthen the 5th Royal Scots, reaching there just before the heavy fighting in which that regt. so distinguished itself. He took part in the famous charge of 28 June, 1915, and was thereafter reported missing, until 7 March, 1916, when he was posted as killed in action; _unm._ A comrade wrote: "I knew him well and I was much attached to the young lad. We had talks together and shared our dug-outs together often and on the awful day, we went over the parapet together. I was wounded in the attack and he went on, so, of course, from that time I knew nothing further. I shall ever treasure the memory of him, and shall ever think of him as the brave young lad who did not seem to know fear." "I have put my faith in God, and am ready for whatever happens," he wrote, in one of his last letters. [Illustration: =David B. Nicholson.=] =NICHOLSON, JOHN BEVERIDGE=, Private, No. 2253, 1/4th (City of Dundee) Battn. The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) (T.F.), eldest _s._ of the Rev. Thomas Brown Nicholson, M.A., Minister of the Chalmers Street United Free Church, Dumfermline, by his wife, Barbara Stevenson, dau. of the late David Beveridge, of Kingskettle, Manufacturer; _b._ Hamilton, 24 May, 1894; educ. High School, Dumfermline; was a journalist and a member of the literary Staff of John Leng & Co., Dundee; volunteered on the outbreak of war and joined the 1/4th Black Watch, 10 Aug. 1914; left for France on Tuesday, 23 Feb. 1915, and was killed in action near Festubert, 12 July following, being shot by a sniper while repairing the trenches at midnight. Buried, Grave No. 7, Row H, Sheet, France, Bethune, Square R. 32d. 7.5; _unm._ Capt. E. Leslie Boase, commanding D Coy. to which he belonged (himself killed in France in Aug. 1916), wrote: "He was to me not only a comrade-in-arms, but also a friend. I have known young Nicholson to volunteer for a very dangerous bit of work, and keep at it unflinchingly till finished without, so to speak, turning a hair. He went at Neuve Chapelle twice with me, his Capt., on quite a dangerous errand of mercy--voluntarily, and if anything had been necessary to assure me of his bravery, I had it then. His death came like a cruel blow to me." A comrade, L-Corpl. W. C. Andrews, wrote: "There was not a man in the platoon who was not his friend. I knew him and liked him in civilian days, but it was out here, amid hardships and dangers, that I learned how splendid in manhood he was; how fine and fearless in thought and act. I never knew him do or say a mean thing. He was the very soul of chivalry. Long shall we miss his cheery laughter, his little acts of exquisite courtesy and thoughtfulness." Another comrade, L.-Corpl. Joseph Lee, wrote: "He passed to his death in the fearless manner in which he faced all that was uncongenial to one of his refined and artistic disposition in our present environment." The editor of "Answers," wrote: "As fine a fellow as ever donned a Black Watch kilt; he sent home several of the most realistic letters from the firing-line that have been published since the outbreak of the war." And the "Dundee Advertiser" remarked: "It is indeed a singularly promising career which has been cut short. While yet a mere boy, he had acquired a bright, clear and forcible style of writing; he had both fancy and wit; he had read much and felt a keen interest in all human affairs. His achievement already was considerable, and there can be no doubt that, with matured powers and wider experience, he would have attained distinction as a journalist and writer of fiction. Some of his poems written at the Front have won high praise from qualified critics for their fine feeling and delicate phrasing, while his prose descriptions of battlefield scenes are full of vigour." Among his writings may be mentioned his recruiting appeal "A call from the trenches," which was printed in pamphlet form and given away by the military authorities in street distribution; some charming verses entitled "On hearing a lark singing at dawn in the trenches," and a poem of singular beauty, "The Crucifix," which has been widely cited and which would alone suffice to stamp the writer as a poet of a very high order. His brother David was also killed in action (see his notice). [Illustration: =John Beveridge Nicholson.=] =NICHOLSON, JOHN CHARLES=, Private, No. 10347, 3rd Battn. Coldstream Guards, _s._ of John William Nicholson, of 15, Villa Terrace, Alexandra Street, Hull; _b._ co. York; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders; killed in action at Zillebeke, 19 Nov. 1914; _unm._ Buried there. =NICHOLSON, LAWRENCE CAIL, D.S.O.=, Lieut., 3rd, attd. 1st. Battn. Princess Charlotte of Wales' Royal Berkshire Regt., 4th _s._ of Frederick William Nicholson, of Shiplake, Henley-on-Thames, by his wife, Annie, dau. of Benjamin Cail, of Maidenhead; _b._ Maidenhead, co. Berks, 30 Aug. 1882; educ. Uppingham; was embodied with Militia 1 year 38 days, and attd. to Regulars 362 days; served in South African War with Mounted Infantry, 1899-1901; was gazetted 2nd Lieut., 14th (King's) Hussars, 26 March, 1902, and promoted Lieut. 24 Jan. 1905; retired and joined the Special Reserve of Officers; appointed Lieut., 3rd Berkshire Regt., 28 July, 1914; went to France, 30 Aug. 1914, attd. to the 1st Battn.; "led and commanded his platoon admirably during an attack on German position Passchendaele-Becelaere Road, which resulted in the taking of the enemy's trenches and 70 prisoners," for which he was awarded the D.S.O. [London Gazette, 1 Dec. 1914]; was wounded in action near Ypres, 23 Oct. 1914, and died of wounds in London. 2 Nov. following; _unm._ [Illustration: =Lawrence Cail Nicholson.=] =NICHOLSON, LEONARD SAMPSON=, 2nd Lieut., 1/12th Battn. (The Rangers) The London Regt. (T.F.), 2nd _s._ of John Nicholson, of Tanshelf Mills, Pontefract, co. York, Matting Manufacturer, by his wife, Elizabeth (West View, Ackworth Road. Pontefract), dau. of Leonard |