Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) 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 ...

Sir Jasper Nicolls KCB (15 July 1778 – 4 May 1849) was

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company rule in India and the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

Military career

Born at

East Farleigh East Farleigh is a village and civil parish in the local government district of Maidstone, Kent, England. The village is located on the south side of the River Medway about two miles (3.2 km) upstream from the town of Maidstone. Heritage The ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and educated at a private school in

Ballygall Ballygall () is a small suburban area located between Glasnevin and Finglas, on the northside of the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is also a townland divided between the civil parish of Finglas and that of Glasnevin. It was settled by Vikings in ...

and at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, Nicolls was commissioned into the

45th Regiment of Foot The 45th (Nottinghamshire) (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment, raised in 1741. The regiment saw action during Father Le Loutre's War, the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War as w ...

in 1793. Nicolls spent five or six years in the West Indies, attaining the rank of captain on 12 September 1799. In 1802 he proceeded to India as military secretary and aide-de-camp to his uncle, Major-general

Oliver Nicolls General Oliver Nicolls (c.1740 – 1829) was a British Army officer. Military career Nicolls was commissioned into the 1st Regiment of Foot in November 1756.Richard Cannon''Historical record of the Life Guards containing an account of the formati ...

, commander-in-chief in the Bombay presidency. A few days after the

Battle of Assaye The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India. An outnumbered Indian and British forc ...

joined the army commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) during the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War, ...

(1803–1805). It is not clear whether he went as a volunteer or was appointed to the staff; but, according to Stocqueler, he was employed in the quartermaster-general's department. Nicolls was present at the

Battle of Argaon The Battle of Argaon (also known as Battle of Argaum) took place on 29 November 1803, between the British under the command of Major-General Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) and the forces of Bhonsle of Berar and Scindia of Gwalior ...

and

Siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

Gawilghur Gawilghur (also, Gavalgadh, Gawilgarh or Gawilgad, Pronunciation: �aːʋilɡəɖ was a well-fortified mountain stronghold of the Maratha Empire north of the Deccan Plateau, in the vicinity of Melghat Tiger Reserve, Amravati District, Mahara ...

in 1803. Nicolls returned home soon after the close of the war, and obtained his regimental majority on 6 July 1804. In the following year the 45th Foot formed part of Lord Cathcart's

expedition to Hanover The Hanover Expedition, also known as the Weser Expedition, was a British invasion of the Electorate of Hanover during the Napoleonic Wars. Coordinated as part of an attack on France by the nations of the Third Coalition against Napoleon by W ...

, and Major Nicolls accompanied it. In 1806 he sailed with the force under Brigadier-general Crawford, first to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, and afterwards on Lieutenant-general John Whitelocke's campaign to the Rio de la Plata. Nicolls was present at the disastrous attack on

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in July 1807. In the ill-organised assault on that town Nicolls found himself isolated with seven companies of his regiment, his colonel having become separated with one or two companies from the main body of the 45th. In this trying position he displayed conspicuous resolution, and, repelling the attack of the enemy, held his ground. On the following day, in pursuance of an arrangement between Whitelocke and the Spanish general

Liniers Liniers is a barrio (neighborhood) of Buenos Aires on the edge of the city, centered on Rivadavia Avenue. It is also an important train station and bus hub, connecting western Gran Buenos Aires with the Buenos Aires Metro. The neighborhood deve ...

, Nicolls, together with the other isolated bodies, evacuated the town. The 45th, unlike several other bodies of British troops, did not surrender, and Nicolls refused to give up the colours of his regiment. So conspicuous was his conduct on this occasion that Whitelocke in his despatches thus writes of him: "Nor should I omit the gallant conduct of Major Nichols icof the 45th regiment, who, on the morning of the 6th instant, being pressed by the enemy near the Presidentia, charged them with great spirit and took two howitzers and many prisoners". Nicolls was the only regimental officer whose name appeared in the despatches. At the subsequent trial by court-martial of Whitelocke he was one of the witnesses. In 1807 he was appointed

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the 2nd Battalion of the

14th Regiment of Foot 14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 and preceding 15. In relation to the word "four" ( 4), 14 is spelled "fourteen". In mathematics * 14 is a composite number. * 14 is a square pyramidal number. * 14 is a stella octangula number. ...

and he went on to fight at the

Battle of Corunna The Battle of Corunna (or ''A Coruña'', ''La Corunna'', ''La Coruña'' or ''La Corogne''), in Spain known as Battle of Elviña, took place on 16 January 1809, when a French corps under Marshal of the Empire Jean de Dieu Soult attacked a Briti ...

and to take part in the

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign ( ) was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Sir John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham ...

in 1809. In 1811 he became Assistant Adjutant-General at Horseguards and in 1812 he was made Deputy Adjutant-General in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Later that year he went to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as Quartermaster-General. In 1815, during the

Gurkha War The Anglo-Nepalese War (1 November 1814 – 4 March 1816), also known as the Gorkha War, was fought between the Gorkhali army of the Kingdom of Nepal (present-day Nepal) and the British forces of the East India Company (EIC, present-day Indi ...

he captured

Almora Almora ( Kumaoni: ''Almāḍ'') is a municipal board and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of the ...

and reduced

Kumaon Kumaon or Kumaun may refer to: * Kumaon division, a region in Uttarakhand, India * Kumaon Kingdom, a former country in Uttarakhand, India * Kumaon, Iran, a village in Isfahan Province, Iran * , a ship of the Royal Indian Navy during WWII See also ...

. In 1825 he was made General Officer Commanding a Division of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

and in 1829 he transferred to become GOC

7th (Meerut) Division The 7th (Meerut) Division was an infantry division of the British Indian Army that saw active service during World War I. Pre-1857 The Meerut Division first appeared in the Indian Army List in 1829, under the command of Sir Jasper Nicolls, ...

; in 1838 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the

Madras Army The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government ...

. In 1839 he was promoted to

; he returned to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1843. He was appointed Colonel of the

93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot The 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Line Infantry Regiment of the British Army, raised in 1799. Under the Childers Reforms, it amalgamated with the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot to form the Argyll and Sut ...

in 1833, transferring as Colonel to the

5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III to England in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution and ...

in April 1843, a position he held until his death in 1849.

Family

In 1809 he married Anne, eldest daughter of Thomas Stanhope Badcock of Little Missenden Abbey, Buckinghamshire, and together they went on to have one son and eight daughters.

Notes

References

* * Attribution * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolls, Jasper 1778 births 1849 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from East Farleigh West Yorkshire Regiment officers British military personnel of the Anglo-Nepalese War British East India Company Army generals British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Maratha War Sherwood Foresters officers Military personnel from Kent