John Nichol (8 September 1833 – 11 October 1894), was a Scottish literary academic, and the first

Regius Professor of English Language and Literature The Regius Chair of English Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow was founded in 1861 by Queen Victoria, and is the only Regius Professorship in the Faculty of Arts. History The first professor appointed was John Nichol, a grad ...

at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Early life

Born in Montrose,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, Nichol was the son of

John Pringle Nichol John Pringle Nichol FRSE FRAS (13 January 1804 – 19 September 1859) was a Scottish educator, phrenologist, astronomer and economist who did much to popularise astronomy in a manner that appealed to nineteenth century tastes. Early life Born ...

, Regius Professor of Astronomy at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. John Jr. studied first at Glasgow (1848–55) and then

Balliol College, Oxford 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 ...

(1855–9) as a

Snell Exhibitioner The Snell Exhibition is an annual scholarship awarded to students of the University of Glasgow to allow them to undertake postgraduate study at Balliol College, Oxford. The award was founded by the bequest of Sir John Snell in a will made in 1677 ...

, graduating with a First-Class degree in Classics, Philosophy and Mathematics. After graduating, Nicholl remained at Oxford as a coach. With

Albert Venn Dicey Albert Venn Dicey, (4 February 1835 – 7 April 1922), usually cited as A. V. Dicey, was a British Whig jurist and constitutional theorist. He is most widely known as the author of ''Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitutio ...

Thomas Hill Green Thomas Hill Green (7 April 183626 March 1882), known as T. H. Green, was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was influen ...

Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

and others, he formed the Old Mortality Society for discussions on literary matters.

Glasgow

In 1862 he was made

Regius Professor of English Literature The Regius Professor of English Literature is a Regius Professorship at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. The first holder was appointed in 1894. List of Regius Professors of English Literature * Herbert Grierson (1894 to 1915); first incu ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He had already made a reputation as an acute critic and a successful lecturer, and his influence at Glasgow was very marked. During his tenure as Regius Professor, he also lectured at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

as well as private tutoring across Britain, and formed a strong reputation as an inspiring lecturer, later joining Glasgow's

Dialectic Society Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...

. He left Glasgow for London in 1889, and died on 11 October 1894. ''A Memoir by Professor Knight'' was published in 1896.

Works

Among the major works by Nichol were his drama ''Hannibal'' (1873), ''The Death of Themistocles, and other Poems'' (1881), his

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

in the "

English Men of Letters English Men of Letters was a series of literary biographies written by leading literary figures of the day and published by Macmillan, under the general editorship of John Morley. The original series was launched in 1878, with Leslie Stephen's bio ...

" series (1880), his

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

(1882) and Carlyle (1892). Nichol was also an enthusiastic Americanist and wrote the ground-breaking ''American Literature: An Historical Review, 1620–1880'' (1882). He visited the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1865, and in 1882 he wrote the article on American literature for the ninth edition of the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

''. In addition to the above, he was also the author of the following works: *''Fragments of Criticism'', a volume of essays, (1860); *''Tables of European Literature and History, A.D. 200-1876'' (1876); *''Tables of Ancient Literature and History'', (1877); *''English Composition'', a literature primer, (1879); *''Questions on English Composition'', (1890); and *two volumes on ''Lord Bacon's Life and Philosophy'' for Black's "Series of Philosophical Writers", (1887–89). Nichol also wrote essays for the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until ...

'', ''

North British Review The ''North British Review'' was a Scottish periodical. It was founded in 1844 to act as the organ of the new Free Church of Scotland, the first editor being David Welsh. It was published until 1871; in the last few years of its existence it had a ...

'', and other reviews; articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''; and several pamphlets on education questions. The Times/1894/Obituary/John Nichol – Wikisource. En.wikisource.org. Retrieved on 2011-07-21. Nichol was long blamed by biographers of the poet Swinburne for leading Swinburne to lose his faith and to alcoholism. Neither charge is true (See Terry L. Meyers, "On Drink and Faith: Swinburne and John Nichol at Oxford". Review of English Studies, ns 55:220 (June 2004), 392–424).

References

External links

* *
His article about American Literature (in Encyclopædia Britannica 9th ed.)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nichol, John 1833 births 1894 deaths Scottish biographers People from Montrose, Angus Academics of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford