George Frederick Nicholl (5 November 1832 – 28 July 1913) was a British academic, who held the position of

Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic The Lord Almoner's Professorships of Arabic were two professorships, one at the University of Oxford and one at the University of Cambridge. They were both founded before 1724, but records of the holders of the chairs only date from that year. The ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1878 until 1909.

Career

Nicholl was born in

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham. Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...

, Staffordshire (now West Midlands). He

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

at Oxford as a member of

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

in 1878 at the age of 45. His appointment by the

Lord Almoner The Royal Almonry is a small office within the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, headed by the Lord High Almoner, an office dating from 1103. The almoner is responsible for distributing alms to the poor. The Lord High Almoner is usually a ...

to be Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic was announced in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' on 30 October 1878, when it was also recorded that the university would award Nicholl the degree of MA by decree on 5 November 1878. In addition to his position as Lord Almoner's professor (1878–1909), he became Professor of Sanskrit and Persian at King's College London in 1879 and was also lecturer in Oriental languages at Oxford from 1880 onwards. He was appointed an Honorary

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in 1888. He resigned with effect from 24 June 1909, because of ill-health, and was the last Lord Almoner's professor at Oxford. His publications included grammatical works in Samaritan,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and Assamese. In retirement, he lived in

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. His ...

, Suffolk, and died on 28 July 1913. In an obituary published in ''The Times'', he was described as "a celebrated scholar and teacher of the Indian languages, classical and vernacular, and the author of several educational works", who had worked for many years to help teach probationers members of the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

studying at Oxford.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholl, George 1832 births 1913 deaths People from Tipton Linguists from the United Kingdom Lord Almoner's Professors of Arabic (University of Oxford) British Arabists British Sanskrit scholars Academics of King's College London Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford