Sir John Rumney Nicholson (25 March 1866 – 22 November 1939) was a British engineer. Nicholson was born at

Langwathby Langwathby is a village and civil parish in northern Cumbria, England, about north east of Penrith on the A686 road. The village lies on the east bank of the River Eden. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 748, increasing to 8 ...

in 1866, the son of Isaac Nicholson, and was educated at

St Bees School , motto_translation = Enter so that you may make progress , established = (reformed 2015–2018) , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

. His family was stated to be from

Bolton, Cumbria Bolton is a village and civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England, about north west of Appleby-in-Westmorland, and on the River Eden. According to the census of 2001, it had a population of 416, increasing to 435 at the census of ...

. He entered the works of Black, Hawthorn and Co. in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

in 1883. He was resident engineer in charge of the erection of the first generating station of the Newcastle Electric Supply Company at Pandon Dene in 1889. He then went to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, and returned to London in 1894 to join P. W. and C. S. Meek consulting engineers, and was engaged on dock and railway undertakings, including at the

Port Talbot docks The port of Port Talbot is located on the River Afan estuary next to Port Talbot Steelworks in the industrial town of Port Talbot, South Wales. The whole basin complex covers about , consisting of: an inner set of floating docks, developed from 1 ...

. From there he went to Ellesmere Works at

Worsley Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county ...

, near

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. After his marriage in 1902, he moved with his wife to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, where he was engaged as managing director of the

Tanjong Pagar Dock Company The Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, (1864–1905), the forerunner of today's Maritime & Port Authority, was founded by Guthrie and Company and Tan Kim Ching. The company was expropriated by the Government in 1905 who replaced it with the Tanjong Pa ...

, and on its nationalization by the government in 1905 became chairman and chief engineer of the new

Singapore Harbour Board PSA International Pte Ltd is a port operator and supply chain company, with flagship operations in Singapore and Antwerp. One of the largest port operators in the world, PSA has terminals across 26 countries, including deepsea, rail and inland f ...

. For his service in Singapore, he was appointed a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG) in the

1913 Birthday Honours The 1913 Birthday Honours were appointments in the British Empire of King George V to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens. The appointments were made to celeb ...

list, and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the

1919 Birthday Honours The 1919 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were ...

list.″Knighthood for Langwathby gentleman″. Penrith Observer, Tuesday 10 June 1919, page 5. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1918, and after working a year on government work in France, was appointed chief engineer for docks on the North Eastern Railway in 1919. Following the formation of the London and North Eastern Railway group (LNER) in 1923, he continued as chief engineer for docks of the North-Eastern area. He retired late 1927.″Sir John Nicholson′s retirement″. Leeds Mercury, Saturday 17 December 1927, page 9. He died on 1939 at his home Red House,

Underskiddaw Underskiddaw is a civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in the English county of Cumbria. The parish lies immediately to the north of the town of Keswick, and includes the southern and eastern flanks of Skiddaw as well as part of the valley ...

, near

Keswick, Cumbria Keswick ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Allerdale Borough in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically, until 1974, it was part of Cumberland. It lies within the Lake District National ...

.″Sir J. R. Nicholson′s death at Keswick″. Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 24 November 1939, page 7.

Family

Nicholson married at the parish church in

Lugwardine Lugwardine is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, to the east of Hereford. It lies on the north-east bank of the River Lugg, which gives the village its name. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 1, ...

on 24 September 1902 to Sybil Helen Croft, daughter of

Sir Herbert Croft, 9th Baronet Sir Herbert George Denman Croft, 9th Baronet, DL (25 July 1838 – 11 February 1902), was an English Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1874. Biography Croft was the son of Sir Archer Denman Croft (1801� ...

. Lady Nicholson was an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE). They had one son and one daughter.

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, John Rumney 1866 births 1939 deaths Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George