Born the son of Sir Lothian Nicholson, a former Governor of Gibraltar, and Mary Romilly, Nicholson served in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882.[1] He was appointed in command of the destroyer HMS Spiteful on 11 January 1901,[2] as she was serving in home waters, and was in charge when she ran aground near the Isle of Wight the following month and during a collision with sister ship HMS Peterel in October. After a year with the Spiteful, he was appointed in command of HMS Dove on 24 February 1902,[3] serving in the Channel Fleet as part of the Portsmouth instructional flotilla. In May 1902, the ship hit a rock off Kildorney, and had to be towed by her sister ship HMS Bullfinch to Queenstown,[4] and later back to Portsmouth for repairs.[5] Douglas and the crew transferred to the recently completed torpedo boat destroyer HMS Success, which was commissioned at Portsmouth on 9 June.[6] The following day, the navy held a court-martial where he was tried for negligence during the Kildorney incident. He was acquitted of negligence, but severely reprimanded for being in error of judgment.[7]
In December 1902, Nicholson was appointed to the seagoing training ship HMS Northampton, to serve in command of HMS Calliope, tender to the larger Northampton.[8]
Nicholson became commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Hyacinth in August 1905, of the cruiser HMS Hermes in December 1905 and of the battleship HMS St Vincent in 1910.[9] He went on to be commanding officer of the battleship HMS Conqueror in 1912 and Commodore of His Majesty's Yachts in 1913.[1] He served in World War I as commanding officer of HMS Agincourt in the Grand Fleet from 1914.[9] He continued his war service as Second-in-Command of the 3rd Battle Squadron from March 1917, as Second-in-Command of the 4th Battle Squadron from September 1917 and as Commander of the 3rd Battle Squadron from 1918.[10]
He became Rear-Admiral, Reserve Fleet at Portland in 1919 and Vice-Admiral commanding the Reserve Fleet in 1922 before retiring in 1926.[1]
United Kingdom
Royal Navy