Daniel Nicols (8 February 1833–28 February 1897) was a French-born

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

best known as the founder of the Café Royal in London. He became a

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

British citizen in 1865.

Early career

Born as Daniel Nicolas Thévenon in

Champlost Champlost () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. See also *Communes of the Yonne department The following is a list of the 423 communes of the Yonne Yonne () is a department in the Bou ...

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

in France and the son of Jean Baptiste Thévenon, he was apprenticed to a coachbuilder in

Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second city of the d ...

before moving in the early 1850s to Paris, where he continued to work as a coachbuilder. He married his shop-assistant first cousin Célestine Lacoste (1831-1916) in Paris in 1854 and they had a daughter, Emma Josephine Thévenon (1856-1912). At about this time he bought a wine shop in Bercy in Paris from a relative, M. Champroux, for £240 saved from their salaries, and soon followed this with two further shops. When Champroux went bankrupt in 1863 Thévenon, who had guaranteed some of his debts, faced bankruptcy himself for 250,000 francs. Faced with being arrested for this debt he and his wife fled France to escape their creditors and arrived in London in October 1863. In 1864 he was sentenced in his absence to ten years' penal servitude; by 1871 he had repaid the debts but the Supreme Court of France did not cancel his sentence until 1890. Nicols arrived in Britain in 1863 with Célestine and just five pounds in cash saved by his wife but with a considerable professional knowledge of French culture and cuisine virtually unknown in London and which quickly appealed to British tastes. On arriving in London the couple lodged in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

where there was a large French population and where Nicols worked as an oddjob man while his wife found work as a seamstress.

Café Royal

He Anglicised his name to Daniel Nicols and the couple set up their first venture as the 'Café Restaurant Nicols' at 19 Glasshouse Street near Piccadilly Circus in February 1865, but as its fame spread and it became the place to see and be seen he expanded the premises by buying a shop in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...

, behind the café, and in 1867 renamed it the Café Royal. He was

as a British subject in April 1865. His future son-in-law Georges Alexandre Pigache (1851-1898) supervised the kitchens and his nephew Eugène Lacoste carefully selected the wines. In fact Lacoste bought so lavishly that Nicols was faced with bankruptcy for a second time but managed to pay off his creditors by selling one eighth of the wine stock. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1 many French political refugees settled in London and would gather at the Café Royal where they found a little piece of Parisian society, causing it to become a popular meeting place. The Café Royal flourished and was considered at one point to have the greatest wine cellar in the world. The 'N' displayed on all the glass, china, napkins and menus throughout the café actually stood for 'Nicols'.

Success

With their new-found wealth, in the 1870s the Nicols bought a large estate with a deerpark and farmhouse in

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

, demolishing the farmhouse and building Regent House and employing an Italian artist to decorate it with the same rich fittings as the Café Royal. In 1884 they took over the derelict Pandora Theatre in

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

and after decorating it in the same style as the Café Royal launched it as the variety theatre and ballet venue the Empire Theatre. The theatre had three unsuccessful seasons of

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

which included '' Chilpéric'', Edward Solomon and

Sydney Grundy Sydney Grundy (23 March 1848 – 4 July 1914) was an English dramatist. Most of his works were adaptations of European plays, and many became successful enough to tour throughout the English-speaking world. He is, however, perhaps best remembe ...

, ''Pocahontas or The Great White Pearl'', another Solomon opera, ''Polly or The Pet of the Regiment'' and his ''

Billee Taylor ''Billee Taylor, or The Reward of Virtue'' is "a nautical comedy opera" by Edward Solomon, with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens. The piece was first produced at the Imperial Theatre in London on 30 October 1880, starring Arthur Williams ...

'' - all in 1884, while Kate Vaughan starred in ''Around the World in 80 Days'' at the theatre in 1886. From 1887 the theatre became the

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

Empire Theatre of Varieties The Empire, Leicester Square is a cinema currently operated by Cineworld on the north side of Leicester Square, London. The Empire was originally built in 1884 as a variety theatre and was rebuilt for films in the 1920s. It is one of several ci ...

and, like the Café Royal, it too became a great success. At Regent House the Nicols' entertained lavishly in their great ballroom with an orchestra conducted by

Leopold Wenzel Léopold de Wenzel (23 January 1847 – 21 August 1923), also known as Leopold Wenzel, was an Italian conductor and composer. Born in Naples, Wenzel spent most of his career working in London, with the exception of some years spent in Paris. Wenz ...

, or the entire corps de ballet of the

, or, from 1887, the numerous

performers - all intended to amuse and entertain their weekend guests. As a prominent member of the French community in London Nicols belonged to the Société Nationale, the French gentlemen's club in London, and regularly donated to the French Hospital in Leicester Place. He was also a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

Illness and Death

Daniel Nicols suffered from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

for the last nine years of his life and died from

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

of the foot and blood poisoning on 28 February 1897 at his home, Regent House, aged 64. He left an estate valued at £191,673, a considerable amount at that time, and his widow immediately disputed the will, claiming that as they had married in France the will was subject to French law and she was therefore entitled to half the income and capital. The Court found in her favour but her daughter Emma and son-in-law Georges Pigache applied to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

, which reversed the previous judgement. Madame Nicols then in turn appealed to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

which in December 1899 reversed the appeal and upheld the original verdict in her favour. Célestine Nicols took over the management of the Café Royal and ran it until her own death in 1916. Daniel Nicols is buried with his wife Celestine and daughter Emma JosephineClarke, John M. ''London's Necropolis: A Guide to Brookwood Cemetery'', Sutton Publishing (2004), p. 209 in the family vault at Brookwood Cemetery. Reputed to be 35 stone at his death and Britain's largest man, he was buried separately as his specially built casket was too large to fit in the vault.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Daniel 1833 births 1897 deaths People from Yonne French restaurateurs French Freemasons People from Surbiton Burials at Brookwood Cemetery British Freemasons