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AUTOTYPE.,   S.S.  S.S  C 


JOHIN 


OTJC-H   ITICHOLS    EsQ^    F.  S.A. 

INH1S60T"YEAR 
(feby  2yP  /866.J 


MEMOIR 


OF    THE    LATE 


JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS,  F.S.xV. 

HON.    FICI.I.OW    OF   THE 

SOCIETIES   OF    ANTIQUARIES    OF    SCOTLAND    AND    NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNK, 

CORRI'SPONDING    MEMBER    OF 

THE    MASSACHUSETTS   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY 

AND    OF   THE    NEW    ENGLAND    HISTORIC- GENEALOGICAL   SOCIETY. 


r.Y 


ROBERT  CRADOCK  NICHOLS,  F.S.A.,  F.R.G.S. 


«=& 


CffiLUM  NON  ANIMUMJ 

I  MlTTAVTMtTS. 


WESTMINSTER 


JUNK   1871. 


f     ^ 


595943 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Portrait  of  John  Gough  Nichols, 

1866. 

To  face 

title. 

Ditto         ditto             from  picture 

by  Maclise 

6 

Herrick  Cup    .... 

•                  • 

14 

Portrait  of  John  Gough  Nichols, 

1864    , 

24 

View  of  House  at  Holmwood    . 

.         . 

25 

Silver  Wedding  Medal      . 

. 

.     26 

Silver  Wedding  Cup 

. 

.     27 

Brass  in  Holmwood  Church 

> 

. 

..  30 

MEMOIR 


OF    THE    LATK 


JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS, 


The  subject  of  the  present  Memoir  was  the  representative  of  a 
family,  whicli,  while  carrying  on  successfully  the  business  of 
printing,  has  for  three  generations  more  or  less  distinguished 
itself  in  the  sphere  of  literature  and  archaeological  research.  His 
grandfather,  John  Nichols,  F.S.A.,  was  the  well-known  author 
of  the  Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  the  com- 
piler of  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  local  histories,  Tlie  History  of 
Leicestershire,  and  for  forty-eight  years  the  editor  of  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine.  As  a  printer,  he  was  the  pupil,  partner,  and 
successor  of  William  Bowyer,  a  learned  typographer  and  author, 
himself  the  son  and  successor  of  another  William  Bowyer,  who 
carried  on  the  business  of  a  printer  in  London  from  a  period 
shortly  preceding  the  Revolution  of  1688.'  It  may  be  of  interest 
to  observe  that  the  younger  Bowyer  and  the  successive  j\Icssrs. 
Nichols  have  held  the  appointment  of  Printers  of  the  Votes  and 
Proceedings  of  the  House  of  Commons  from  the  time  of  Speaker 
Onslow  to  the  present  day. 

John   Bowyer  Nichols,  F.S.A.  the  son  of  John   Nichols  by 
his  second   marriage    with    Martha,   daughter   of  Mr.  William 

'  See  the  Memoir  of  .John  Nichols  in  The  Gcntlcmnn's  .Viit//i:inciov  Dec.  182G, 
written  hy  Mr.  Alexander  Chahncrs,  F.S.A. 

a 


2  THP:  late  JOHN  GOUGII  NicnoT.s. 

Green,  of  Hinckley  in  Leicestershire,  was  from  an  early  age  tlie 
coadjutor  of  his  father  in  editing  The  Gentlemaris  Magazine.  He 
completed  his  father's  Illustrations  of  the  Literary  History  of  the 
Eighteenth  Centwy,  the  sequel  to  the  Literary  Anecdotes,  and,  in 
addition  to  other  literary  work,  superintended  the  passage 
through  the  press  of  the  greater  part  of  the  County  Histories 
which  appeared  during  the  first  half  of  the  present  century,  ren- 
dering by  his  great  topographical  knowledge,  and  by  his  industry 
and  attention,  the  greatest  service  to  their  authors.  He  married, 
in  1805,  Eliza,  eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Baker,'  of  Salisbury 
Square,  Fleet  Street,  surgeon,  afterwards  of  Hampstead,  by 
whom  he  had  fourteen  children,  of  whom,  however,  six  died 
in  infancy.  He  died  on  the  19th  of  October,  1863,  and  was 
buried  in  Kensal  Green  Cemetery.  A  memoir  of  him,  from  the 
pen  of  John  Gough  Xichols,  appeared  in  The  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine for  December  1863,  of  which  a  few  copies  were  reprinted, 
with  some  additions,  for  private  circulation  in  March  1864,  and 
illustrated  with  a  photographic  portrait  taken  in  1860. 

John  Gough  Nichols,  the  eldest  son  of  John  Bowyer  Nichols, 
was  born  at  his  father's  residence  in  Red  Lion  Passage,  Fleet 
Street,  on  the  22nd  of  May,  1806.  He  was  named  Gough  after 
the  distinguished  antiquary  Richard  Gough,  who  was  his  god- 
father and  the  intimate  friend  of  his  father.  While  he  was  yet 
in  his  earliest  infancy,  on  the  8th  of  February,  1808,  the  printing- 
office  adjoining  the  house  in  Red  Lion  Passage  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  and  during  its  re-building  his  father  took  a  house  in 
Thavies  Inn,  Holborn,  which  became  the  scene  of  John  Cough's 
earliest  recollections.  He  used  to  tell  in  later  days  how  he  once 
strayed  from  home  there,  and  was  lost  for  a  whole  day,  being 

'  See  a  Memoir  in  The  Gentlemaii's  Magazine,  for  1825,  ii.  642. 


TIIK  LATL  JOHN  GOU(;il    M(  HOLS.  3 

found  in  the  evening,  by  an  acquaintance  of  liis  fatlier,  sitting 
in  tears  on  the  steps  of  St.  Andrew's  church.  On  the  com- 
pletion of  the  new  building  his  father  resumed  his  residence 
in  Red  Lion  Passage,  where  he  remained  until  his  removal  to 
Parliament  Street  in  1818. 

In  the  early  part  of  1811  he  was  placed  at  a  school  at  Islington 
kept  by  Miss  Koper.  Hero  he  had  among  his  young  school- 
fellows a  boy  who  was  his  senior  by  a  few  months,  the  son 
of  his  father  and  grandfather's  valued  friend  Mr.  Isaac  Disraeli, 
the  author  of  The  Curiosities  of  Literature.  This  son,  destined 
in  later  years  to  eclipse  his  father's  fame  and  to  attain  the  highest 
distinction  not  only  as  an  author  but  as  a  statesman,  was  Ben- 
jamin Disraeli,  the  present  Prime  Minister. 

In  the  summer  of  1814  he  was  sent  to  the  school  of  Dr.  Waite 
at  Lewisham,  where  he  remained  until  the  end  of  1816,  and  in 
January  1817  was  placed  at  Merchant  Taylors'. 

In  letters  written  to  Mr.  J.  B.  Nichols  respecting  his  late  pupil, 
shortly  after  his  leaving,  Dr.  AVaite  speaks  highly  of  his  talents 
and  capacity.  Unfortunately,  however,  he  was  placed,  on  his 
entrance  at  Merchant  Taylors',  though  some  years  older  than  many 
of  his  schoolmates,  in  the  lowest  class  in  the  school,  owing  to  a 
wish  to  that  effect  injudiciously  expressed  to  the  Head  Master 
by  his  father's  brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  John  Pridden,  who 
accompanied  him,  in  loco  parentis,  on  his  first  going  there. 
This  put  him  at  a  disadvantage,  compared  with  others  of  his 
age,  which  he  was  never  able  altogether  to  recover,  and  it  was 
always  a  point  of  which  he  spoke  with  regret.  Dr.  James  Hessey, 
who  in  later  years  became  the  Head  Master  of  the  school,  was  at 
Merchant  Taylors'  as  a  pupil  during  part  of  the  time  when  Mr. 
Nichols  was  there,  and  we  take  the  liberty  of  quoting  liom  a 
kind    and  sympathetic   letter,   written  by  him  to    Mrs.  Gough 


4  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

Nichols  the  day  after  her  husband's  death,  the  following  passage, 
in  which  lie  refers  to  those  old  school-days.  "  Personally  I 
grieve  for  one  who  is  connected  with  my  very  earliest  recol- 
lections, who  took  me,  day  by  day,  when  I  was  a  very  little 
boy,  most  kindly  to  Merchant  Taylors^  school,  and  with  whom 
I  have  frequently  had  friendly  intercourse  since  that  distant 
date,  1823,  for  fifty  years.  I  remember  being  struck,  even  in  my 
childhood,  with  his  kindness,  and  I  cannot  refrain  from  express- 
ing to  you  my  respect  for  his  memory." 

Journals  kept  by  him  during  his  school -days  are  still  in 
existence,  and  indicate  already  the  bent  of  his  mind.  He  makes 
notes  on  churches,  and  copies  inscriptions  and  epitaphs.  The 
following  extract  seems  worth  recording: — "  1823,  May  7.  I 
went  in  the  evening  (for  the  first  time)  with  my  father  to  the 
meetings  of  the  Antiquarian  and  Royal  Societies.  Saw  there 
(m^er  alios)  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  Mr.  Hudson  Gurney,  ]\Ir.  Ellis, 
Mr.  Taylor  Combe,  Mr.  Davies  Gilbert,  IMr.  Cayley,  Mr.  Wm. 
Tooke,  &c.  &c.  We  inspected  in  the  library  of  the  Royal 
Society  Wickliflfe's  copy  of  his  English  translation  of  the  Bible, 
two  MS.  vols,  folio  (about  coeval  with  the  invention  of  printing), 
and  a  Greek  MS.  of  the  Testament  of  the  9th  century;  that  is,  as 
old  as  the  Alexandrian  MSS.  in  the  Antiquaries  Library." 

A  letter  from  Mr.  Isaac  Disraeli  to  Mr.  J.  B.  Nichols,  dated 
June  7,  1823,  contains  this  testimony  to  John  Gough's  early 
sagacity.  He  says,  "  I  am  gratified  to  find  that  your  son  treads 
in  your  footsteps,  by  the  readiness  with  which  he  has  been  able 
to  ascertain  our  unknown  blunder."  It  appears  that  he  had 
succeeded  in  assio'ning  to  its  actual  writer  a  letter  which  the 
author  of  The  Curiosities  of  Literature  had  supposed  to  have  been 
by  some  other  person. 

Notwithstanding   tlic   drawbacks    to  which  we   have  alluded, 


Tin:   I. A  IK  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS.  A 

young  Nichols  made  sucli  good  progress  at  Merchant  Taylors' 
tliat,  had  his  birtliday  {"alien  a  month  or  two  later,  he  would  have 
obtained  the  removal  to  St.  John's,  Oxford,  which  he  so  much 
desired.  But,  with  a  numerous  family  growing  up,  his  father  did 
not  then  feel  himself  justified  in  sending  him  to  the  University 
without  the  aid  of"  the  Merchant  Taylors'  scholarship,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1824  he  left  school  to  join  in  the  business  and  literary 
labours  of  his  father  and  grandfather. 

Even  before  his  school-days  were  over  John  Gough  had  been 
the  useful  assistant  of  the  latter,  under  whose  competent  direction 
he  commenced  those  historical  and  antiquarian  studies  in  which 
he  afterwards  attained  such  high  distinction.  His  first  literary  work 
after  leaving  school  was  to  help  in  tlie  compilation  of  the  Pro- 
gresses of  King  James  the  First,  the  latest  work  of  John  Nichols; 
after  whose  death,  on  the  26th  Nov.  1826,  it  was  John  Gough, 
although  his  name  does  not  appear  on  the  title,  who  completed  and 
superintended  the  publication  of  the  Progresses  in  the  year  1828. 
He  began  also  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  editorial  management 
of  The  Gentleman's  Magazine,  to  which  he  had  already  been  an 
occasional  contributor.  From  this  time  to  the  year  1856,  when 
the  proprietorship  of  The  Gentlemaiis  Magazine  was  relinquished 
by  ]\Iessrs.  Nichols,  he  continued  either  as  joint  or  sole  Editor  to 
have  a  large  share  in  the  literary  direction  of  the  ]\Iagazine,  as 
well  as  contributing  to  its  pages  many  historical  essays  of  con- 
siderable value,  and  compiling  its  copious  obituary.  The  Avriter 
of  a  memoir  of  ]\Ir.  Nichols  in  lite  Antiquary,  a  publication 
which  not  unworthily  endeavours  to  fill  in  some  respects  the 
place  formerly  occupied  by  The  Gentlemaiis  Magazine,  truly 
observes  that  this  department  of  the  ]\lagazine  has  "  in  itself 
rendered  that  work  invaluable  to  the  fiiture  biographer  and  his- 
torian."    The  direction  thus  given,  however,  by  Mr.  Nichols  and 


6  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS. 

his  coadjutors  to  The  Geidlemaiis  Magazine  was  less  popular  than 
intrinsically  solid  and  valuable,  and  its  proprietors  had  the  mor- 
tification to  find  it  not  only  outstripped  in  circulation  by  its 
modern  rivals,  but  gradually  tending  to  become  an  actual  loss. 

In  1829  he  published  his  first  separate  work,  a  collection  of 
Autographs  of  Royal,  Noble,  Learned,  and  Remarkable  Person- 
ages, accompanied  by  Biographical  Memoirs.  The  fac-similes 
were  engraved  by  C.  J.  Smith,  from  originals,  most  of  which 
are  in  the  British  Museum.  In  addition  to  a  Prefatory  Essay, 
the  volume  contains  short  memoirs  of  between  four  and  five 
hundred  persons,  and  exhibits  extensive  research  and  historical 
knowledge  in  its  young  author. 

In  August,  1830,  he  paid  a  visit  to  Mr.  Kobert  Surtees, 
at  Mainsforth,  near  Durham,  at  whose  suggestion  he  joined 
the  Rev.  James  Raine  (the  historian  of  North  Durham),  and  his 
brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  George  Peacock,  F.R.S.,  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  afterwards  Dean  of  Ely,  and  his  sister.  Miss 
Peacock,  in  a  Scottish  tour.  They  visited  Edinburgh,  Stirling, 
the  Trosachs,  Dumbarton,  Glasgow,  Lanark,  Melrose,  and  Ab- 
botsford  (where  they  were  disappointed  at  finding  Sir  Walter 
Scott  absent  from  home),  thence  returning  to  Durham  and 
Mainsforth.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  J.  B.  Nichols,  dated  Sept.  17, 
1830,  Mr.  Surtees  writes  that  John  Gough  has  just  left  them 
on  his  return  home,  and  adds  :  "  We  are  sorry  to  part  with  him; 
but  I  hope  this  little  northern  tour  has  established  an  intimacy 
between  us  which  will  only  end  with  my  life." 

Mr.  J.  G.  Nichols  continued  a  constant  correspondent  of  Mr. 

Surtees  until  his  early  death  in  1834;  and  several  of  the  letters 

addressed  by  Mr.  Surtees  to  him  are  printed  in  the  Life  by  Mr, 

Raine.^     On  the  formation  of  the  Surtees  Society,  in  that  year, 

'  Life  of  Robert  Siu'tees,  published  by  the  Surtees  Society,  1852. 


AFTER  A 


N  Z4  '.  ^    Y  L  .-,  R 

ING-  BY  L.  MACLISE.    R.A. 
1829. 


AUTOTV  PE,  s  s  a  &  c? 


THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS.  7 

he  was  appointed  one  of  its  Treasurers  ;  an  office  which  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  until  his  death. 

Ill  1831  he  published  an  octavo  volume  on  London  Pageants, 
which  was  received  with  considerable  favour.  It  contained  an 
account  of  all  the  Eoyal  Processions  and  Entertainments  in  the 
City  of  London  from  the  time  of  Henry  the  Third,  and  of  the 
Lord  ^Layors'  Pageants  from  that  of  King  John  to  the  year  1827. 

In  June,  1833,  Messrs.  Nichols  commenced  the  publication 
in  quarterly  parts  of  the  Collectanea  Topographica  et  Genealogica, 
for  the  collection  and  preservation  of  original  and  inedited  mate- 
rials of  value  to  the  topographer  and  genealogist.  Of  this  work, 
which  was  completed  in  eight  volumes  in  1843,  ]\Ir.  John  Gough 
Nichols  was  one  of  the  original  Editors ;  and,  latterly,  the  sole 
Editor. 

In  1834  we  find  him  engaged  in  assisting  the  Rev.  W.  L. 
Bowles  in  the  preparation  of  a  History  of  Lacock  Abbey, 
Wilts.  From  the  correspondence  which  took  place  between 
them  relative  to  this  work  we  extract  the  following  passage  from 
a  letter  of  Mr.  Bowles  : — 

Rev.  W.  L.  Bowles  to  J.  G.  Nichols. 
My  dear  Sir,  Bremhill,  May  16,  1834. 

if  H.  *  *  it  if  if 

Age,  anxietie.s,  and  a  mind  not  capable  of  wandering  in  the  perplexed  mazes 
of  heraldic  antiquities,  or  indeed  fitted  to  laborious  research  of  any  kind,  admo- 
nish mo  that  I  had  better  end  at  Old  Sarum,  and  leave  to  younger  hands  the  con- 
clusion of  the  History  of  Lacock. 

The  pains  you  have  taken  must  have  been  infinite,  and  the  accuracy  of  the 
information  is  in  itself  an  important  addition  to  English  heraldry  and  genealogy, 
and  as  such  might  make  the  first  portion  of  the  History  of  Lacock  interesting  and 
most  valuable  ....  I  see  no  reason  why  what  is  written  may  not  directly  appear 
as  the  First  Part  of  the  History  of  Lacock  Nunnery,  in  the  county  of  Wilts,  by 
the  Rev.  W.  L.  Bowles,  assisted  by  John  Gough  Nichols,  esq.,  and  I  shall  leave 
to  you  to  insert  or  omit  what  you  think  proper  in  the  last  sheets. 


8  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS. 

In  a  subsequent  letter,  however  (Aug.  1834),  Mr.  Bowles  says: 
"  You  have  given  to  this  interesting  chapter,  colour,  life,  and 
language,  as  well  as  historic  knowledge,  far  far  greater  than  any- 
thing to  which  I  can  pretend.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  diffi- 
culty in  what  manner  my  name  can  appear  as  author  of  the 
History  of  Lacock." 

The  work  was  published  in  the  succeeding  year  as  the  joint 
production  of  Mr.  Bowles  and  Mr.  Nichols,  under  the  title  of 
Annals  and  Antiquities  of  Lacock  Ahhexj. 

On  December  3,  1835,  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries.  He  had  previously  been  a  constant  visitor  at 
their  meetings,  and  on  Feb.  3,  1831,  had  communicated  a  short 
paper  on  a  monumental  brass  plate  from  Tours,  which,  as  v/ell 
as  many  subsequent  communications,  in  the  course  of  his  life,  to 
the  meetings  of  the  Society,  has  been  printed  in  the  Archceo- 
logia.  As  Printer  to  the  Society  he  carefully  read  every  sheet  of 
that  work  ;  and  not  a  few  of  the  authors  of  the  various  commu- 
nications will  acknowledge  the  value  of  suggestions  received 
from  him.  A  list  of  his  contributions  to  the  Archceologia 
will  be  found  in  the  list  of  works  at  the  conclusion  of  this 
memoir. 

Among  the  various  occasions  on  which  he  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  proceedings  of  this  Society  may  be  mentioned 
the  discussion  which  took  place  in  1862  respecting  the  produc- 
tions of  Holbein  and  his  contemporaries,  which  arose  on  the  dis- 
covery of  Holbein's  will,  and  of  the  date  of  his  death,  Oct.  or 
Nov.  1543,  communicated  to  the  Society  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Black 
in  1861.  Mr.  Nichols  contributed  a  valuable  paper  on  the  con- 
temporaries and  successors  of  that  painter,  whose  works  are  so 
frequently  confounded  with  his  own  ;  and  another  in  the 
succeeding  year  on  Holbein's  portraits  of  the  Koyal  Family. 


rilK  LATK  JOHN  (iOUOII  NICHOLS.  \) 

lie  naturally  took  a  great  interest  In  the  question  which  was 
raised  in  I860  by  Mr.  Herman  Merivale,  whose  deafli  has  so 
soon  followed  that  of  ^Ir.  Nichols,  respecting  the  aullienticity 
of  tlie  famous  "  Paston  Letters."  A  paper  in  tlieir  defence 
having  been  read  before  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  on  Novem- 
ber 30,  by  Mr.  Bruce,  the  matter  was  referred  by  the  Society,  on 
December  12,  to  a  Committee  of  eight  Fellows,  of  whom  Mr. 
Nichols  was  one,  for  their  investigation.  The  result  of  their 
labours  was  reported  to  the  Society  on  ^lay  10,  1866,  and  pub- 
lished in  the  forty-first  volume  of  tlie  Archaologia,  pp.  38-74. 
'I'he  facts  brought  out  by  this  discussion  fully  established  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  Society,  and,  among  others,  of  Mr.  jMcrivale 
himself,  the  genuineness  of  the  letters. 

His  active  participation  in  the  labours  of  the  Society  con- 
tinued to  the  time  of  his  death.  On  the  8th  May,  1873,  he  read 
a  paper  at  the  Society  of  Antiquaries'  meeting  on  Religious  and 
Social  Gilds  and  the  College  at  Walsoken  ;  and  on  the  15th  ol 
the  same  month  another  paper  on  some  Portraits  by  Quintin 
Matsys  and  Holbein. 

The  latter  of  these  will  appear  in  the  Archccologia,  and  the 
former  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Norfolk  and  Norwich  Archaeolo- 
gical Institute,  to  which  it  was  also  communicated. 

To  return  to  his  earlier  literary  avocations — One  of  the  most 
important  works  which  passed  through  the  press  of  Messrs. 
Nichols  during  the  first  years  of  Mr.  John  Gough  Nichols's 
connection  with  it  was  The  History  of  Modern  Wiltshire,  by 
Sir  Richard  Colt  Hoare,  Bart.  In  the  different  divisions  of 
the  County  Sir  llichard  availed  himself  of  the  assistance  of 
several  gentlemen  whose  names  arc  associated  with  his  own  in 
the  authorship  uf  the  various  parts  of  the  work.  Mr.  J.  G. 
Nichols  undertook  the  Hundred  of  Aldcrbury  ;   and  this  part, 

b 


10  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

forming-  the  first  Part  of  Volume  V.,  was  just  finished,  but  not 
published,  at  the  time  of"  the  death  of  Sir  Richard  on  INIay  19, 
1838.  The  Hundred  of  Frustfield,  which  had  been  undertaken 
by  George  Matcham,  esq.,  and  the  History  of  Old  and  New 
Sarum  by  Robert  Benson,  esq.  and  Mr.  Hatcher,  were  still  incom- 
plete. The  progress  of  this  work  occasioned  several  visits  by 
Mr.  Nichols  to  Wiltshire,  of  which  we  may  especially  note  one 
undertaken  in  the  September  following  the  death  of  Sir  Richard 
for  the  purpose  of  making  arrangements  for  the  completion  of 
the  history. 

In  1838  he  published  "^  Description  of  the  Frescoes  dis- 
covered in  1804  in  the  Guild  Chapel  at  Stratford-on-Avon,  and 
of  the  Records  relating  thereto,^'  being  an  account  of  some  very 
curious  mediaeval  paintings,  written  to  accompany  a  reissue  of 
the  careful  drawings  by  Thomas  Fisher,  first  published  in  1808  ; 
and  a  Description  of  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  Warivick,  and  of 
the  Beauchamp  Chapel;  and  the  Monuments  of  the  Beaicchamps 
and  Dudleys. 

In  the  same  year  he  suggested,  and  in  conjunction  with  his 
friends.  Sir  Frederic  Madden,  the  Rev.  J.  Hunter,  Mr.  J.  Payne 
Collier,  Mr.  John  Bruce,  Mr.  W.  J.  Thorns,  and  other  gentlemen 
whose  names  he  has  recorded  in  the  passage  below  quoted,  esta- 
blished the  Camden  Society,  the  objects  of  which  were  announced 
to  be  "  to  perpetuate  and  render  accessible  whatever  is  valuable, 
but  at  present  little  known,  amongst  the  materials  for  the  Civil, 
Ecclesiastical,  or  Literary  History  of  the  United  Kingdom." 

"  By  the  popularity  of  this  plan  "  (we  quote  from  Mr.  Nichols's 
preface  to  his  Catalogue  of  the  Society's  Works,  1872,)  "  and  by 
the  influential  advocacy  of  several  powerful  friends  (among 
whom  the  late  Mr.  Amyot,  Treas.  S.A.,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Bliss, 
of  Oxford,  and  Mr.  Purton  Cooper,  Q.C.,  were  especially  active), 


■!^ 


TUE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS.  11 

the  Camden  Society  rapidly  atchieved  a  triumph  beyond  the 
hopes  of  its  projectors.  Of  its  first  book,  500  copies  having  been 
taken,  a  second  impression  was  shortly  required;  and  a  thousand 
copies  were  printed  of"  the  other  works  of  the  year.  By  the 
anniversary  in  1839  the  members  were  beginning  to  exceed  the 
copies  thus  provided,  and  it  was  then  determined  to  admit  1,200 
^lenibers,  and  to  limit  the  Society  to  that  maximum.  This  large 
number  also  was  quickly  attained,  and  there  was  besides  a  book 
of  Candidates  waiting  for  future  vacancies." 

The  success  of  the  Camden  Society  led  to  the  formation  of  the 
.^Ifric,  the  Shakespeare,  the  Percy,  the  Parker,  and  several 
similar  societies,  most  of  which  it  has  survived. 

Of  the  hundred  and  ten  volumes  illustrative  of  our  national 
history,  issued  by  the  Camden  Society  up  to  the  time  of  Mr. 
Nichols's  death,  many  were  edited  by  himself.  But,  as  has  been 
observed  by  the  writer  of  the  short  memoir  in  the  AthencBum 
(Xov.  22,  1873),  "  There  is  scarcely  a  volume  among  the  long 
series  which  does  not  bear  more  or  less  marks  of  his  revision,  and 
more  or  less  acknowledgment  of  the  value  of  that  revision  on 
the  part  of  their  respective  editors.  It  was  the  same  with  the 
majority  of  the  writers'  connected  with  works  on  history  or 
genealogy  which  passed  through  the  press  under  the  careful  eyes 
of  Mr.  Nichols." 

His  first  contribution  to  the  Society's  publications  was  a  paper 
entitled  Notices  of  Sir  N'icholas  Lestvange,  prefixed  to  Mr.  W. 
J.  Thoms's  Anecdotes  and  Traditions,  published  in  1839.  He 
subsequently  edited  for  the  Society  the  following  works  :  The 
Chronicle  o/ Calais,  published  in  1846;  Chronicle  of  the  Rebellion 
in  Lincolnshire  in  1470,  and  Journal  of  the  Siege  of  Rouen  1591,  Z*^ 
Sir  Thomas  Coningsby,  1847  ;  Tlte  JHary  of  Henry  Macliyn  from 
1550  to  1563,  1848  ;    The  Chronirle  <f  Queen  Jane  and  two  years 


*#- 


12  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

of  Queen  Manj,  1850;  The  Discovery  of  the  Jesuits^  College  at 
Clerkenwell  in  March  1627-8,  1853  ;  Grants,  ^x.  from  the  Crown 
in  the  reign  of  King  Edward  V.,  1854;  lnve>itories  of  the  Ward- 
robes, ^-c,  of  Henry  Fitz-Roy  Duke  of  Richmond,  and  of  the  Ward- 
robe Stuff  at  Baynard's  Castle  of  the  Princess  Doioager,  1855; 
The  Letters  of  Pope  to  Atterbury  ivhen  in  the  Tower  of  London, 
and  Nan^atives  of  the  Days  of  the  Reformation  {chiefly  from  the 
Manuscripts  of  Fox  the  Martyrologist),  1859;  Wills  from  Doctors^ 
Commons  (edited  in  conjunction  with  John  Bruce,  Esq.),  1863; 
and  in  1867  and  IS6S  History  fi'om  Afarble,  compiled  in  the  reig?i 
of  Charles  IL,  by  Thomas  Dingley,  Gent.,  of  the  introduction, 
notes,  and  literary  illustrations  of  which,  by  Mr.  Nichols,  it  is 
remarked  by  the  AthenaBuui  writer  that  it  may  truly  be  said  that 
they  doubled  the  value  of  that  remarkable  book. 

In  1862  he  published  a  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the  Works  of 
the  Camden  Society,  comprising  the  eighty-six  volumes  which 
had  been  issued  up  to  that  date,  which  he  subsequently  com- 
pleted and  re-issued  in  1872  as  a  Catalogue  of  the  First  Series 
of  the  Wo7'ks  of  the  Camden  Society,  one  hundred  and  five  in 
number. 

Mr.  Nichols's  death  found  him  still  with  work  on  hand  for 
this  Society,  having  made  considerable  progress  with  the  Auto- 
biography of  Lady  Ann  Halket,  in  the  reigns  of  diaries  1.  and 
Charles  II.,  and  2\ro  Sermons  preached  by  Child-Bishops  at  St. 
Paul's  and  at  Gloucester,  with  other  Documents  relating  to  that 
Festivity,  which  have  been  for  some  time  announced  for  publica- 
tion by  the  Society,  and  the  completion  of  which  has  now  been 
undertaken,  the  former  by  S.  E.  Gardiner,  Esq.,  the  present 
Director  of  the  Society,  and  the  latter  by  Edward  Eimbault, 
Esq.,  LL.D. 

About  1840  he  contemplated  writing  an  account  of  the  Monu- 


THE   LA  IK  JOHN  GOUC.II   NICHOLS.  13 

incuts  nnd  Brasses  of  the  Brookes  and  Cobhams  in  Cobliam 
Church,  Kent.  These  were  at  that  time  in  a  melancholy  state 
of  dilapidation,  but  Mr.  Francis  C.  Brooke,  the  present  repre- 
sentative of  the  family,  before  leaving  England  in  1H.39,  had 
commissioned  Mr.  D.  E.  Davy  to  have  them  put  in  a  state 
of  repair  at  his  expense.  j\Ir.  Davy  had  recourse  to  the  assist- 
ance of  Mr.  Nichols  and  Mr.  Spence,  then  of  Kochester,  to  whom 
the  idea  of  restoration,  or  rather  repair  and  the  prevention  of 
further  mischief,  had  already  occurred,  and  under  their  super- 
intendence the  scattered  liagments  of  the  brasses  were  restored 
to  their  places,  the  inscriptions  completed,  the  stonework  of  the 
fine  monument  of  George  Lord  Cobham  repaired,  and,  at  a 
trifling  cost,  the  whole  put  in  tolerable  condition,  and  the  pro- 
gress of  further  damage  stopped.^  A  much  more  thorough  and 
complete  restoration  was  afterwards  effected  by  Mr.  Brooke  be- 
tween 1862  and  1868,  at  a  cost  of  nearly  700/.  The  progress 
of  this  work  occasioned  frequent  visits  to  Cobham  and  much 
correspondence  both  with  Mr.  Spence  and  Mr.  Davy  from  1840 
to  1843.  i\Ir.  Nichols's  letters  on  the  subject  to  Mr.  Davy  have 
found  their  way  to  the  British  Museum  (Add.  MS.  vols.  xvii. 
xviii.),  and  contain  much  interesting  matter  relating  to  these 
remarkable  monuments.  From  some  of  these  letters  it  appears 
that  he  abandoned  his  intention  of  writing  his  Memorials  of  the 
Cobhams,  on  account  of  his  being  dissatisfu'd  with  the  plates 
intended  to  illustrate  the  work. 

In  1841  he  edited  for  the  Berkshire  Ashmolean  Society  the 
Union  Inventories,  with  a  memoir  of  the  Unton  family;  and  in 
the  same  year  he  commenced  the  publication  of  a  series  of 
Examples  of  Decorative  Tiles,  the  original  puipose  of  which  was 

'  A  short  account  of  the  wmk  done  at  Cobham  will  be  found  in  The  Gentleman  s 

Mi((j(i:inr  for  March,  isll,  |).  lidfi. 


14  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

to  recommend  the  revival  of  the  art,  and  to  furnish  patterns  to 
those  who  might  undertake  the  manufacture  of  ornamental  pave- 
ments. Four  Parts  of  this  work  were  issued,  the  last  in  1845, 
and  in  it  Mr.  Nichols  was  able  to  say  that  its  object  had  been 
fully  accomplished.  Messrs.  Chamberlain,  of  Worcester,  and 
Minton  and  Co.,  of  Stoke-upon-Trent,  had  produced  a  few  tiles, 
and  the  adoption  of  this  kind  of  pavement  in  the  restoration 
of  the  Temple  Church  had  been  already  decided  upon  by  the 
time  that  the  first  number  had  appeared;  but  a  considerable 
impetus  to  the  revival  was  given,  and  the  best  examples  made 
generally  known,  by  the  publication  of  this  work. 

In  1843  he  undertook,  at  the  request  of  his  kind  friend 
Mr.  William  Perry  Herrick,  of  Beaumanor,  to  arrange  his 
valuable  series  of  papers  and  manuscripts,  comprising,  inter  alia, 
Manor  Rolls  of  Beaumanor  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Edward  I., 
and  the  Exchequer  Records  of  the  period  (1616  to  1623)  during 
which  Sir  William  Plerrick  (who  purchased  Beaumanor)  was 
Teller  of  the  Exchequer.  These  last  were  completed  and  a 
Calendar  of  them  made  in  1858,  and  the  family  letters  and 
papers  in  1862.  A  full  account  by  Mr.  Nichols  of  these  interest- 
ing documents  and  papers  appeared  in  The  Athenaiwn  of  August 
27,  1870.  He  also  directed  and  superintended  for  Mr.  Herrick 
the  execution  of  a  Genealogical  and  Armorial  Stained-glass  Win- 
dow in  the  Hall  at  Beaumanor,  a  description  of  which  he  printed 
in  1849.^ 

'  A  handsome  silver  gilt  Cup,  a  photograph  of  which  is  here  given,  was 
presented  to  Mr.  Nichols  in  1860  by  Mr.  Herrick,  and  is  thus  inscribed: — 

PRESENTED  TO 

JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS,  ESQ.  F.S.A. 

BY  WILLIAM  PERRY  HERRICK,  ESQ. 
IN  COMMEMORATION  OF  HEREDITARY  AND  PERSONAL  FRIENDSHIP. 

A.D.  1860, 


^^B^^^^^^^^^^^^l 

^^^Ib  /  -^'^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

^^r^                                '^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

^^^■k  '''I^^^^^^^^^^M 

m 

L^H 

HERRICK      CUR 
AD    I860 


THE  LA n.  JOHN  OOUGII  NICHOLS.  15 

The  concliuliiig  part  of"  tlie  Collectanea  Topographica  et  Gettea- 
logica,  published  in  1843,  contains  an  announcement  of  the  com- 
tnenccment  of  The  Topographer  and  Genealogist^  a  work  on  the 
same  model  and  of  similar  contents.  The  parts  of  this  work, 
of  which  six  form  a  volume,  were  intended  to  be  issued  at  inter- 
vals of  two  months,  but  the  state  of  Mr.  Nichols's  health  and 
the  multiplicity  of  his  engagements  caused  considerable  delays, 
and  it  was  only  in  18j8  that  Part  18,  completing  the  third 
volume,  made  its  appearance.  As  we  shall  hereafter  have  occa- 
sion to  relate,  he  then  decided  to  close  the  series  and  to  commence 
The  Herald  and  Genealogist. 

In  1844  he  contributed  an  historical  introduction  to  a  hand- 
some volume,  printed  for  the  Fishmongers'  Company,  The  Fish- 
mongers' Pageant  on  Lord  Mayor's  Day,  1616.  A  second  edition 
of  this  work  was  printed  in  1859. 

On  the  formation  of  the  Archaeological  Institute,  under  the 
name  of  the  Archaeological  Association,  in  1844,  ]\Ir.  J.  G. 
Nichols  became  an  original  member,  and  adhered  to  that  Society 
on  its  disruption  and  the  foundation  of  the  rival  "  Association" 
in  1845. 

While  taking  a  very  decided  part  with  the  majority  of  the 
Central  Committee,  and  contending  that  they,  if  not  regarded  as 
representing  the  original  Association,  were  clearly  not  seceders^ 
as  termed  by  ]\Ir.  Pettigrew,  but  were  expelled  by  the  minority 
(see  Gent.  Jfag  1845,  vol.  xxiii.  p  631,  and  vol.xxiv.  p.  289), he 
nevertheless  remained  on  good  terms  with  many  archaeological 
friends  who  took  the  other  side.  !Mr.  Nichols  attended  most  of 
the  annual  meetings  of  the  Institute,  and  communicated  to  it 
many  valuable  papers. 

In  connection  with  the  Archaeological  Institute  we  must  not 
omit  to  mention  the  long  friendship  in  which  kindred  tastes  and 


16  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

pursuits  bound  together  Mr.  Nichols  iind  Mr.  Albert  Way,  from 
its  foundation  the  Director  of  that  Society,  who  has  survived 
him  so  short  a  time.  All  who  partake  in  any  degree  of  their 
love  for  history  and  antiquities  will  feel  that  they  have  seldom 
lost  within  a  few  months  two  such  valuable  associates. 

In  1849  he  published  the  Pilgrimages  of  Walsingham  and 
Canterbury  by  Erasmus,  an  original  translation,  with  an  introduc- 
tion and  extensive  notes.  Tliis  little  book  met  with  very  general 
approval,  and  the  impression  was  soon  exhausted.  He  lately 
had  it  in  contemplation  to  issue  a  second  edition,  and  had  revised 
with  this  object  a  considerable  part  of  the  text,  but  his  numerous 
other  engagements  caused  it  to  be  deferred.  It  is  hoped  that 
it  may  shortly  be  published. 

In  the  same  year,  in  pursuance  of  the  will  of  his  friend  Mr. 
John  Stockdale  Hardy,  F.S.A.  Registrar  of  the  Archdeaconry 
of  Leicester,  who  died  on  the  19th  July  in  that  year,  he  under- 
took to  edit  the  Literary  Remains  of  that  gentleman,  which 
were  published  in  1852  in  a  handsome  8vo.  volume,  prefaced  by 
a  memoir  by  Mr.  Nichols,  and  illustrated  by  a  portrait  and 
several  engravings. 

His  health  had  never  been  strong,  and  in  1856  he  found 
the  strain  of  the  editorial  work  of  The  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
of  which,  since  1851,  he  had  supported  the  whole  burden, 
in  addition  to  his  other  literary  undertakings,  too  great  for 
liim.  Mr.  J.  H.  Parker  having  expressed  a  wish  to  take  up  the 
magazine,  the  property  in  it  was  transferred  to  him  for  a  nominal 
consideration,  and  Mr.  J.  G.  Nichols  ceased  to  be  the  Editor. 
As  long  as  it  remained  in  Mr.  Parker's  hands  the  high  character 
of  the  magazine  sustained  no  derogation.  Special  attention 
continued  to  be  paid  to  history  and  antiquities,  and  architectural 
topics  became  particularly  prominent.     Mr.  Nichols  continued 


THE  LATK  JOHN  GOUGII   NICHOLS.  17 

to  take  an  interest  in  the  magazine,  and  among  other  contribu- 
tions furnished  its  pages  with  the  Autobiography  of  Silvanus 
Urban,  Gent.,  an  ^interesting  account  of  matters  and  persons 
connected  with  the  early  history  of  the  magazine  from  its  first 
establishment  by  Edward  Cave  at  St.  John's  Gate,  Clerkenwell, 
in  1731,  to  the  death  of  its  founder  in  1754. 

The  use  made  by  Mr.  Nichols  of  the  time  thus  set  free  from 
the  toil  of  a  monthly  publication  is  seen  in  his  Literary  Remains 
of  King  Edward  the  Sixth,  edited  by  him  in  two  volumes 
4to.  for  the  Roxburghe  Club  in  1857-8.  A.  great  part  of  the 
first  volume  consists  of  an  introductory  biographical  memoir, 
evidencing  throughout  the  careful  and  accurate  research  for 
which  its  author  was  so  remarkable,  and  the  Literary  Remains 
themselves  are  illustrated  by  copious  notes.  It  is  perhaps  to  be 
resrretted  that  this  work  should  have  been  destined  for  so  limited 
a  circulation  as  the  hundred  copies  printed  for  the  club,  and  the 
publication  of  the  Biographical  Memoir,  in  a  more  popular  form, 
would  be  very  desirable. 

In  1859  he  wrote  an  account  of  The  Armorial  Windows  hi 
Woodhouse  Chapel,  by  the  Park  of  Beaumanor,  in  Cliarnwood 
Forest f  which  was  read  at  the  Annual  JMeeting  of  the  Leicester- 
shire Architectural  and  Arcbgeological  Society  at  Loughborough, 
July  27,  and  printed  for  private  distribution  at  the  expense  of 
William  Perry  Herrick,  esq.  of  Beaumanor. 

A  new  edition  of  Hutchins's  History  of  Dorset  having  been 
undertaken  in  1860  by  Mr.  William  Shipp  of  Blandford,  ]\Ir. 
Nichols,  though  not  assuming  the  nominal  responsibility  of 
editorship,  engaged  to  give  a  general  superintendence  to  the 
work.  It  had  originally  been  proposed  that  this  should  be 
merely  a  reprint  of  Hutchins,  but,  owing  to  J\Ir.  Nichols's  repre- 
sentations, and  in  a  great  measure  by  his  assistance,  the  History 

c 


18  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

has  been  extended  to  the  present  time.  The  concluding  part  of 
this  work  is  now  in  the  press,  the  whole  of  the  topographical 
portion  having  already  been  published. 

In  1860  he  edited,  for  presentation  to  the  Roxburghe  Club  by 
Lord  Delamere,  The  Boke  of  Noblesse  addressed  to  Edward  IV. 
on  his  Invasion  of  France.  In  Mr.  Nichols's  own  interleaved 
copy  of  this  work  (in  which  he  has  written,  "  This  copy  I  wish 
to  be  presented  after  ray  death  to  the  Library  of  the  British 
Museum  ")  he  has  prefaced  it  by  this  note :  '^  The  following  pas- 
sage of  a  leading  article  in  the  Times  of  June  2,  1860,  is  an  evi- 
dence how  much  the  invasion  of  France  by  Edward  IV.  is  for- 
gotten :  '  We  have  no  intention  of  invading  France,  and  if,  since 
the  days  of  Heniy  VI.  we  have  ever  set  foot  in  France,  it  has 
not  been  to  threaten  her  independence  or  to  substitute  one 
dynasty  for  another,  but  simply  to  keep  France  from  molesting 
her  neighbours  and  unsettling  Europe.'  " 

In  the  Introduction  to  The  Boke  of  Noblesse  (written  to  excite 
the  people  of  this  country  to  commence  an  unprovoked  attack 
upon  their  neighbours),  after  a  review  of  the  contents  of  the 
work,  the  story  of  this  forgotten  war  is  told  at  length,  an  inter- 
esting chapter  of  History,  but,  though  not  actually  disastrous, 
not  one  which  flatters  national  vanity,  and  therefore  perhaps  the 
more  instructive. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  engaged,  and  had  made  con- 
siderable progress,  in  editing  for  Mr.  Paul  Butler  for  presentation 
to  the  Eoxburghe  Club  a  curious  old  poem,  which  he  proposed 
to  call  Throckmorton  s  Ghost,  but  which  has  now  been  printed 
with  the  title  of  The  Legend  of  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton. 

In  the  autumn  of  1861,  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  the 
ArchiEological  Institute  to  Windsor,  an  arrangement  was  made 
that  a  History  of  Windsor  Castle  should  be  undertaken  as  the  joint 


1  Hi:  LATi:  JOHN  goucmi  niciiols.  19 

task  of  a  number  of  literary  men  then  there  assembled,  of  whom 
Mr.  Nichols  was  one.     The  leading  portion  of  the  work  was  to 
have  been  written  by  Mr.  Woodward,  at  that  time  ller  ^Majesty's 
Librarian.     The    department    undertaken   by   Mr.  Nichols   was 
"  The  Royal  Funerals."     The  proposal  was  one  in  which  the  late 
Prince  Consort   took   much    interest,   and,  subsequently  to    his 
death,  on  a  wish  being  expressed  by  Her  Majesty  to  jNlr.  Wood- 
ward that  he  should  undertake  such  a  history,  Her  Majesty  was 
pleased  to  express  her  gratification  on  hearing  that  it  was  already 
in  contemplation.     This  work  was  unfortunately  never  carried 
out,  and  on  ]\lr.  Woodward's  death,  in  1869,  the  plan  seems  to 
have  dropped;   but  Mr.  Nichols  had  prepared  considerable  ma- 
terial for  his  portion,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  his  notes,  which 
are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Dean  of  Windsor,  may  ultimately 
in  some  form  or  other  be  made  useful  for  their  intended  purpose. 
The  termination  of  Mr.  Nichols's  connection  with  the  manage- 
ment  of   Tlie  Gentleman's   Magazine,    after   a   continuance    for 
upwards  of  thirty  years,  had  been  rendered  urgently  necessary  by 
the  state  of  his  health,  and  had  produced  in  this  respect  a  most 
satisfactory  effect.      But  it  was  with  great  reluctance  that  he 
renounced  the  editorial  task,  and  little  more  than   a  year  elapsed 
before  we  find  him  planning  the  establishment  of  another  peri- 
odical,   which    ultimately  took    the    form    of   The  Herald   and 
Genealogist.     At  first  it  was  proposed  that  this  publication  should 
be  simply  a  continuation  of  Tlie  Topographer   and  Genealogist, 
but  at  regular  two-monthly  intervals,  as  had  been  originally  in- 
tended with  that  publication,  and  at  a  reduced  price.    A  proposal 
to  this  effect  was  inserted  in  the  concluding  part  of  'The  Topo- 
grapher, vol.  iii.,  and   dated  Dec.   15,   1857,  but   the  plan   re- 
mained for  some  time  in  abeyance,  and  it  was  not  until  September 
1862  that  the  first  number  of  the  Herald  made  its  appearance. 


20  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

It  was  received  witli  a  good  deal  of  favour,  and  its  eight  volumes 
contain  ample  evidence  of  ]\Ir.  Nichols's  industry  and  research, 
and  his  appreciation  of  these  qualities  in  others,  as  well  as  of 
"his  oavn  earnest  love  of  'the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,'  in  historical 
inquiries,  and  an  unflinching  opposition  to  all 
attempts  to  set  up  unfounded  claims  to  honours, 
and  to  foist  cooked-up  pedigrees  and  genealogies 
upon  the  public."' 

It  is  at  the  particular  request  of  the  writer  of  these  words  that 
Ave  have  given  them  especial  prominence,  inasmuch  as  they  were, 
he  says,  intended  for  the  express  object  of  pointing  out  one  of 
the  marked  characteristics  of  the  late  Editor  of  this  publication, 
in  a  field  of  literature  which  called  forth  as  much  the  moral 
sense  of  duty  as  the  historical  knowledge  of  the  writer. 

But,  in  his  insatiable  appetite  for  work,  he  was  only  too  apt 
to  overburden  his  own  physical  powers,  and  other  engage- 
ments and  uncertain  health  interfered  seriously  with  the  intended 
regularity  of  the  publication.  This  again  tried  the  patience  of 
subscribers,  many  of  whom  dropped  off,  and  the  work  was 
only  continued  at  a  considerable  pecuniary  sacrifice.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  seven  Volumes  and  five  Parts  of  the  eighth 
had  been  published,  but  the  remainder  of  that  Volume  was  far 
advanced  and  the  greater  part  of  it  had  already  been  put  in  type 
and  revised  by  Mr.  Nichols.  The  publication  of  the  concluding 
Part  was  only  delayed  in  order  that  it  might  be  accompanied 
by  a  Notice  of  its  Editor. 

In  editing  The  Herald  he  was  frequently  in  communication 
with  many  of  those  American  genealogists  who  have  for  some 

'  Athciuciim,  Not.  22,,  1873. 


THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS.  21 

years  past  pursued  their  researches,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
with  great  industry  and  intelligence.  His  pages  were  always 
open  to  American  correspondents,  and  he  had  the  opportunity 
of  making  known  in  this  country  many  valuable  American  con- 
tributions to  "cnealorjical  literature.  In  return  he  was  honoured 
by  being  elected  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  New  England 
Historic- Genealogical  Society  and  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society;  and  at  the  meeting  of  the  latter  Society,  on  December 
11,  1873,  the  President,  in  announcing  his  decease,  submitted  a 
short  memoir  of  him,  prepared  by  Mr.  Whitmore,  from  which 
we  extract  the  following  passages  : — 

Here,  in  America,  we  have  reason  to  regret  his  loss  as  being  one  of  the  few 
English  genealogists  who  felt  an  interest  in  the  Transatlantic  branches  of 
English  families.  Mr.  Nichols  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  new  school  of 
genealogists;  one  of  those  who  seek  the  truth  in  all  things,  and  who  subject 
everything  to  analysis  and  proof.  No  longer  content  to  repeat  the  fables  of  the 
heralds  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  genealogist  of  to-day  traces  out  and  uses 
the  original  records,  which  alone  are  of  value.  Of  course  the  judicious  liberality 
of  the  British  Government,  both  in  opening  the  great  Record  OfBces  to  the 
public  and  in  publishing  selections  from  the  National  Archives,  has  enabled 
antiquaries  to  work  with  advantages  denied  to  their  predecessors.  Still  the 
movement  began  with  the  students,  and  Mr.  Nichols  was  one  of  the  leaders  in 
the  improvement. 

We  have  every  reason,  therefore,  to  lament  that  our  late  associate  has  thus 
been  stopped  in  his  career  of  usefulness,  and  to  join  in  the  most  sincere  expres- 
sions of  regret.  To  many  of  us  the  notice  of  his  death  was  a  shock  as  great 
as  the  loss  of  any  of  our  immediate  circle,  and  we  feel  it  to  be  as  great  a  calamity 
to  American  as  to  English  literature.' 

The  compilation  of  the  Obituary  of  The  Gentlemaii  s  Magazine 
was,  as  has  already  been  stated,  a  department  of  that  work  to 
which  he  had  given  special  attention,  and  to  which  he  attached 
great  importance.       Its  discontinuance,  under   the  management 

'  Jintrnal  of  thi  Massachusetts  Historical  Suci^ty,  1873,  jt.  122. 


22  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

of  Mr.  Parker,  was  regretted  by  him  as  a  public  loss,  and 
suffircsted  tlie  revival  of  an  idea  which  he  had  before  entertained 
of  the  publication  of  a  magazine  devoted  solely  to  contemporary 
biography  and  the  record  of  family  events.  Much  against  the 
counsel  of  his  own  immediate  circle,  though  not  without  a  good 
deal  of  encouragement  from  literary  friends,  Mr.  Nichols  at- 
tempted the  realization  of  this  idea  in  Tlie  Register  and  Magazine 
of  Biography^  the  first  number  of  which  appeared  on  January  1, 
1869.  He  yielded,  however,  so  far  to  advice  as  not  to  undertake 
the  task  of  editor,  though  he  contributed  many  articles  to  its 
pages. 

Notwithstanding  the  almost  universal  expression  of  approba- 
tion which  greeted  the  undertaking,  the  amount  of  public  support 
which  The  Register  received  disappointed  even  those  whose  ex- 
pectations were  less  hopeful  than  those  of  its  projector.  After 
six  months'  trial  IMessrs.  Nichols  abandoned  the  attempt.  Every- 
body, it  seemed,  would  be  glad  to  be  able  to  refer  to  such  a  work 
in  a  public  library;  scarcely  two  or  three  hundred  would  pay 
one  shilling  per  month  to  possess  or  support  it. 

In  1870  he  undertook  to  edit  a  re-publication  by  Messrs. 
Eoutledge  of  Whitaker's  History  of  Whalley.  It  was  not  at 
first  proposed  that  any  considerable  modification  of  the  original 
work  should  be  attempted;  but  Mr.  Nichols  was  never  satisfied 
to  do  anything  which  he  took  in  hand  in  an  imperfect  or  per- 
functory manner.  He  had  not  a  very  high  opinion  of  Dr. 
Whitaker's  history,  and  his  principal  inducement  to  undertake 
this  task  was  the  hope  that  he  might  make  the  new  edition  some- 
what more  satisfactory  than  the  old.  The  work  was  so  much 
enlarged  that  it  was  thought  better  to  divide  it  into  two  volumes, 
the  first  of  which  was  published  in  1871,  and  the  second,  though 
far  advanced,  was  not  quite  finished  at  the  time  of  his  death. 


TIIK  LATE  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS.  23 

^Ir.  Nichols  joined  the  London  and  Middlesex  Archoeolofrical 
Association  on  its  first  establishment  in  1855,  and  was  elected  a 
Member  of  its  Council  in  1857,  and  a  Vice-President  in  1865, 
which  offices  he  retained  until  his  death.  The  Transactions  of 
this  Society  also  bear  witness  to  his  untiring  industry  and  exten- 
sive knowledsre.  A  list  of  his  communications  to  it  will  be 
found  at  the  end  of  this  Memoir. 

In  July  1871  he  presided  as  Chairman  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  Surrey  ArchoBological  Society,  held  at  Cranley;  and  at 
their  visit  to  Newdcgate  from  the  meeting  at  Charlwood  on  July  4, 
1872,  he  communicated  an  elaborate  paper  on  the  Newdigate 
Family,  which  has  since  been  printed  in  the  Society's  Proceed- 
ings, having  been  revised  for  the  press  by  him  in  the  summer 
of  1873.  He  was  also  an  Honorary  Fellow  of  the  Societies  of 
Antiquaries  of  Scotland  and  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

The  biography  of  a  student  and  man  of  letters  affords  little  to 
tell  of  a  personal  character.  Mr.  Nichols's  habits  were  influenced 
by  the  fact  that  his  health  was  never  robust.  In  his  younger 
days  especially  he  led  a  very  quiet  and  retired  life.  As  a  bachelor 
he  resided  in  his  father's  house,  and  he  remained  unmarried  until 
his  thirty-eighth  year.  In  a  life  marked  for  the  most  part  only 
by  successive  labours  of  the  pen,  even  an  excursion  on  the 
neighbouring  continent  was  an  event.  On  August  18,  1841, 
he  started  with  his  friend  ]\Ir.  John  Rivington  for  a  short  tour 
on  the  Continent.  They  went  from  London  to  Hamburg 
by  steamer,  thence  by  Wittenberg  and  Magdeburg  to  Berlin 
and  Dresden,  visiting  the  Saxon  Switzerland,  and  returning  by 
Weimar,  Leipzic,  Frankfort,  the  Rhine,  and  Antwerp.  His 
letters  and  journals  give  a  full  and  interesting  account  of  this 
excursion,  which,  to  his  regret,  was  the  only  one  he  was  ever 
able  to  make  in  Germany — though  he  made  several  and  some- 
times lengthened  visits  to  France. 


24  TOE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

Retiring  as  were  his  liabits,  he  did  not  decline  to  take  part 
in  such  business  as  his  literary  or  other  associations  naturally 
threw  upon  him.  He  was  elected  in  1836  a  member  of  the 
General  Committee  of  the  Royal  Literary  Fund,  of  which  his 
father  was,  as  his  grandfather  had  previously  been,  one  of  the 
Registrars.  From  this  time  to  the  close  of  his  life  he  con- 
tinued to  take  an  active  part  and  interest  in  its  affairs.  He  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Council  in  1845,  a  trustee  of  the 
Newton  Estate  in  1850,  and  again  elected  on  the  General  Com- 
mittee in  1852,  retaining  that  office  until  his  death.  He  had 
also  been  from  the  year  1845  one  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Printers' 
Pension  Corporation. 

He  was  for  several  years  a  governor  of  the  Grey  Coat  School, 
Westminster,  until  ousted  by  the  new  scheme  of  the  Endowed 
Schools  Commissioners.  He  was  a  governor  of  the  Westminster 
Blue  Coat  School,  which  has  fortunately  escaped  from  being 
reformed  out  of  existence.  He  had  been  also  for  many  years  a 
director,  and  was  latterly  chairman  and  treasurer,  of  the  York 
Buildings  Waterworks  Company. 

John  Gough  Nichols  married,  on  the  22nd  July,  1843,  Lucy, 
eldest  daughter  of  Frederick  Lewis,  Esq.  Commander  R.N.,  by 
whom  he  had  one  son,  John  Bruce  Nichols,  B.A.,  born  Nov.  18, 
1848,  lately  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  and  now  of  Parlia- 
ment Street  and  Holmwood,  whose  name  was  joined  in  1873  to 
those  of  his  father  and  uncle  as  Printers  of  the  Votes  and  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and  two  daughters,  1.  Lucy- 
Burgess,  who  was  born  June  8,  1844;  married  June  1,  1869,  to 
Percy  Mortimer,  Esq.,  younger  son  of  Charles  Mortimer,  Esq.,  of 
Wigmore,  Capel,  Surrey,  and  has  issue  one  son,  John  Hamilton, 
born  Aug.  13,  1872  ;  and  2.  Anna-Eliza,  born  Aug.  27,  1855, 
died  Sept.  16,  1856. 

For  four  years  after  his  marriage  he  resided  at  27,   Upper 


»uroTri-E,  s>  s  f  t  C 


o 
o 
o 


o 


TIIK  LATH  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS.  liJ 

Pliilliiuore  Pluco,  Kensington,  afterwards  for  a  short  time  at 
AVandsworth,  and  subsequently  for  a  long  period  at  28,  Upper 
Harley  Street,  and  at  Brighton.  In  18G8  he  took  a  lease  of 
Ilolinwood  Park,  near  Dorking,  a  residence  belonging  to  the 
family  of  Larpcnt,  from  whom  he  purchased  the  freehold  shortly 
before  his  death. 

His  house  was  always  a  cheerful  and  hospitable  home,  and 
seldom  without  its  guests,  to  whom  Mrs.  Nichols  was  a  genial 
and  entertaining  hostess.  In  the  midst  of  all  the  distractions  of 
society  he  pursued  his  literary  work  in  a  persevering  but  un- 
ostentatious manner,  ready  however  at  all  times  to  take  a  kindly 
interest  in  the  lighter  occupations  of  those  around  him. 

Several  photographs  of  i\Ir.  J.  G.  Nichols,  taken  at  various 
periods,  have  preserved  a  not  unsatisfactory  record  of  his  personal 
appearance  in  the  later  years  of  his  life.  Two  of  those  accompany- 
ing this  memoir  are  enlarged  from  cartes  de  visite  by  Hcnnah  and 
Kent,  taken  in  1864  and  1866.  Ilis  portrait  at  the  age  of  24  is  also 
contained  in  a  family  group  in  water-colours  by  D.  ]\Iaclise,  R.A.,^ 
an  early  work  of  that  painter,  executed  for  i\Ir.  J.  B.  Nichols  in 
1830,  and  representing  his  eight  children  ;  and  a  medallion  by 
Leonard  Charles  Wyon,  Medallist  and  Engraver  to  Her  Majesty's 
Mint,  from  which  a  number  of  medals  both  in  silver  and  bronze 
were  struck,  has  an  excellent  likeness  of  himself  and  his  wife  in 
1868.  He  had  been  from  boyhood  a  great  admirer  and  to  some 
extent  a  collector  of  coins  and  medals,  and  had  long  been  a 
member  of  the  Numismatic  Society.  But  such  medals  as  had 
reference  to  family  history  had  an  especial  interest  for  him,  and 
he  had  recently  been  in  correspondence  with  his  friend  Mr. 
Richard  Sainthill  of  Cork  on  the  subject  of  foreign  medals  struck 
in  commemoration  of  silver  and  golden  weddings.  Mr.  Wyon'u 
medal  was  designed  as  a  memorial  of  Mr.  Nichols's  silver 
'  For  a  photograph  of  the  head  of  Mr.  Nichols  from  this  picture  see  p.  (5. 

d 


26  THE   LATE  JOHN  GOLOII  NICHOLS. 

wedding,  on  July  22,  1868,  and  the  reverse  lias  an  inscription 
recording  the  event.^ 

It  may  not  be  without  interest  to  mention  that,  on  the  22nd  of 
July,  1843,  eighty  guests  assembled  in  a  tent  at  Chiswick  at  the 
wedding  breakfast  of  John  Gough  Nichols  and  Lucy  Lewis.  On 
July  22,  1868,  seventy  of  those  guests  met  again  to  celebrate  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  that  day.  Of  the  other  ten  six  had 
passed  away  and  four  were  in  distant  lands.     The  oldest  friend  of 

'  Mr.  Saintliill  described  this  medal  in  the  following  letter,  which  appeared  in 
the  Art  Journal  for  Januai-y  1869: 

"  SILVER  WEDDING  "  MEDAL. 

"  In  Germany,  when  a  married  pair  have  been  united  for  twenty-five  years,  the 
era  is  termed  "  The  Silver  Wedding  ; "  and  when  fifty  years  are  reached  the  era 
becomes  "  The  Golden  Wedding."  The  events  are  celebrated  with  all  the 
festivities  of  the  original  espousals.  This  custom  is  not  unknown  in  England. 
A  friend  of  mine,  in  Bristol,  mentioned  to  me  that  his  "  Silver  Wedding  "  was 
commemorated  with  all  the  gay  doings  of  year  number  one,  excepting  that  the 
orange  blossoms  were  omitted  on  the  plum-cake.  In  Germany  it  is  very  cus- 
tomary, also,  to  have  a  medal  struck  to  record  the  joyful  event.  I  have  before 
me  the  Silver  Wedding  Medal  of  the  present  King  and  Queen  of  Prussia,  of 
great  artistic  merit,  designed  by  Daege  and  engraved  by  Kullrich.  On  the 
obverse  are  the  portraits  of  the  then  Prince  and  Princess  of  Prussia.  On  the 
reverse,  they  stand  before  an  altar,  their  right  hands  clasped,  and  a  winged 
figure  is  about  to  place  wreaths  on  them;  below,  "1829 — 1854."  I  have  now 
to  record  the  striking  of  a  "  Silver  Wedding"  medal  in  England— probably  the 
first  of  its  class — engraved  by  Leonard  Charles  Wyon.  On  the  obverse  are  the 
portraits,  from  the  life,  of  the  happy  couple,  inscribed  "  John  Gough  Nichols. 
Lucy  Lewis."  Beneath, "  L.  C.  Wyon."  Fortunately  for  the  artist,  his  originals 
presented  a  striking  contrast,  of  which  he  has  made  the  most.  Quiescent 
loveliness  and  living  energ}':  the  broad,  smooth  brow,  topped  with  its  silken 
shading,  relieving  the  slightly-lined  forehead,  deep-set  eye,  massy  clustered  locks 
and  heavy  moustache,  are  all  realised  in  their  varied  shades  with  the  highest 
artistic  ability.  The  Idea  of  the  medal  was  so  close  to  the  era,  that  there  was 
not  time  to  engrave  a  figure  reverse,  which  therefore  presents  this  very  happj' 

inscription,  "FELICES  JUNXIT   CONNUBIALIS  AMOR. — POST  ANNOS  PROSPEROS 

XXV.  22  JULii,  1868.     dec  gratias."     The  diameter  of  the  medal  is  IJ  in. — 
U.S." 


POST  ^ 

NOS   PRO%mROJ, 

DBO    GRATIAS^ 


<H>-Ni?r^ 


L^  \ 


r-'  I 


SILVER    WEDDING    CUP. 
A.  D.    1868. 


Tin:   LATE   JOHN   GOL(Jll  NICHOLS  27 

Captain  Lewis's  family,  the  Rev.  John  Gore,  ^"icar  of  Slialbourne 
and  Minor  Canon  of  St.  George's  Chapel,  Windsor,  who  twenty- 
five  years  before  had  joined  their  hands,  still  survived  ^  to  be  the 
spokesman  of  the  party  in  wishing  them  a  continuance  of  the 
happiness  they  had  so  long  enjoyed  together.- 

'  Mr.  Gore  died  December  7,  1871. 

•  The  nccompanying  photograph  represents  an  antique  silver  gilt  cup 
presented  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nichols,  on  this  occasion,  by  the  members  of  his 
family.     It  bears  the  following  inscription: — 

lOiiAXNi  •  GouGH  ■  ET  •  Luci.«;  •  Nichols 

VOTIS  ■  POST  ■  QUINTUM  •  LUSTEUM  •  PEOBATIS 
XI     KAL  •  SEXTIL  ■  A.C.  M.D.CCCLXVIII. 

The  Rev.  Arthur  Lewis  Gore,  only  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Gore,  also  contributed 
the  following  verses  in  honour  of  the  day: — 

A  SILVER  WEDDING  SONG. 

DEDICATED  WITH  LOVE  TO  MR.  AND  MRS.  J.  GOUGH  NICHOLS,  JULY  22ND,  18r)8. 
I  sing  the  day  which  gives  yon 

A  i-ecord  of  time  past: 
A  day  of  joyaunce  to  you 

As  long  as  life  shall  last. 
A  day  which  calls  around  you 

Friends  bound  by  blood  and  love: 
A  day  whose  thoughts  will  tell  you 

Your  ties  were  formed  above. 

The  summer  time  which  gildeth 

Your  gladsome  Silver  Day, 
Would  say,  No  sun  dcdineth 

When  Love  is  wont  to  stay. 
You've  trod  Life's  road  together, 

'Twere  pain  for  you  to  part ; 
You've  proved  that  nought  can  scvci- 

Those  linked  in  hand  and  heart  ! 

As  friends  are  gathering  round  you 

To  join  your  festive  board. 
Believe  our  hearts  arc  with  you 

To  hail  their  kindly  word — 
The  word  which  says,  "  God  bless  you," 

To  llim  we're  glad  to  pray, 
May  He,  in  adding  to  you, 

.iVtld  yet — the  Golden  Day  ! 


28  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS. 

For  a  few  years  longer  these  wishes  were  to  be  fulfilled.  j\Ir. 
Nichols  remained  tolerably  well,  and  showed  the  marks  of  time 
as  little  as  any  man  of  his  age.  Twice  again,  on  June  1,  1869, 
and  April  26,  1870,  a  wedding  party  assembled  at  Holmwood. 
The  first  was  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Nichols's 
daughter  Lucy,  already  referred  to,  and  the  second  that  of  his 
niece,  Mary  Elizabeth  Griffiths,  to  William  Macdonald  Bird. 

But  throughout  the  summer  of  1873  his  friends  observed  with 
regret  a  decided  falling-off  in  his  health  and  strength.    This,  how- 
ever,  was  not  indicated  by  any  diminution  of  his  energy  or  appetite 
for  work.     He  continued  to  bestow  an  immense  amount  of  labour 
upon  Tlie  History  of  Whalley  as  well  as  on  The  Herald  and  Gene- 
alogist and  other   undertakings.     To  such  an  extent  was    this 
carried  as  to  cause  the  impression  on  his  medical  advisers  that  he 
was  injuring  his  health  by  overwork.     On  the  5th  of  August  he 
attended  the  Court  of  the  Company  of  Stationers,  of  which  he  had 
just  been  chosen  one  of  the  Wardens,  and  dined  at  the  Hall,  and 
on  the  next  day  he  was  present  for  the  first  and  only  time  at  the 
Meeting  of  the  Stock  Board  of  the  Company.     He  had  always 
taken  a  great  interest  in  the  City  Companies.     One  of  his  earliest 
works  had   been  that  on  London  Pageants,  and  he  had  subse- 
quently written  upon  subjects  connected  with  the  Fishmongers', 
the  Vintners',  the  Mercers',  and  other  London  Companies.     The 
Stationers'   Company,     with    which    his    name  had   been   long 
connected,  was  of  course  especially  interesting  to  him,  and  on  the 
occasion  of  the  visit  of  the  London  and  Middlesex  Archgeological 
Association  to  Stationers'  Hall  in  1860  he  read  a  paper  on  its 
history,  which  was  afterwards  printed  both  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  Society  and  separately.     He  had  frequently  expressed  his 
regret  that  the  period  at  which   he   might    expect  to    serve  the 
higher  offices   of  the  Company  should   be  at   a  time  in  his  life 
when  he  could   hardly    anticipate    health   and    strength    to    go 
through  them. 


Tin:   LATE  JOHN  GOUGII  NICHOLS  29 

On  the  2Gth  of  August  he  was  in  town  for  the  last  time.  lie 
was  then  feeling  unwell,  and  shortly  afterwards  went  down  to 
Brighton,  partly  in  order  to  avail  himself  of  the  advice  of  his 
friend  Dr.  Pickford.  Early  in  October  he  returned  to  Holm- 
wood  without  having  much  improved  ;  but,  in  writing  to 
excuse  his  non-attendance  at  the  Court  of  the  Stationers'  Com- 
pany on  Oct.  7,  he  was  able  to  say  that  his  medical  advisers 
promised  him  that  a  fortnight's  entire  rest  would  restore  him 
to  health.  An  incapacity  to  follow  out  this  prescription,  vain 
as  the  result  proved  that  it  would  have  been,  was,  however, 
one  of  the  symptoms  of  his  malady.  His  family  became 
seriously  alarmed,  and,  on  the  14th,  Sir  William  Gull  was 
called  in  and  saw  hira  several  times,  as  did  afterwards  another 
London  physician.  These  great  authorities  concurred  in  still 
taking  a  favourable  view  of  the  case ;  but  the  patient  con- 
tinued to  sink.  So  late,  however,  as  ^ov.  3rd  he  was  able  to 
walk  from  his  own  room  to  another,  and  to  read  a  proof  of  the 
new  edition  of  Mr.  Evelyn  Shirley's  Stemmata  ShirJeiana,  on 
which  he  wrote  a  memorandum  tliat  he  would  have  read  more 
if  he  had  had  it.  From  this  time,  however,  he  rapidly  sank ; 
and,  after  much  suffering  in  the  last  days,  expired  about  4  a.m. 
on  the  14th  of  November,  1873. 

A  post-mortem  examination  showed  the  real  cause  of  his 
illness  and  death  to  have  been  an  internal  cancer,  supposed  to 
have  been  of  about  eight  months'  growth,  and  beyond  the  power 
of  medicine  to  alleviate  or  cure. 

The  writer  of  these  pages  might  not  unreasonably  be  suspected 
of  partiality  were  he  to  attempt  to  do  justice  to  the  personal  worth 
and  character  of  John  Gou^h  Nichols.  But  he  cannot  refrain 
from  quoting  the  words  of  one  in  no  way  connected  with  him 
by  kindred,  yet  well  enough  acquainted  with  him  to  appreciate 
his  merits: — "  I  have  often  thoufdit  of  his  pireat  worth,  his  re- 


30  THE  LATE  JOHN  GOUGIl  NICHOLS. 

tiring  modesty,  his  quiet,  unobtrusive  ways,  his  perfect  gentle- 
ness, his  opinion,  mildly  tendered,  often  browbeaten,  but  always 
true  in  the  end,  on  a  point  of  learning — in  fact,  I  looked  on  him 
as  a  living  lesson  of  a  gentle  spirit  from  which  I  might  draw 
good." 

A  large  number  of  friends  and  dependents  followed  him  to  his 
last  resting-place  on  Wednesday  the  19  th  of  November  He 
was  buried  in  a  grave  at  the  east  end  of  Ilolmwood  Church, 
now  marked  by  a  coped  slab  of  granite,  on  which  is  inscribed: 

PASSED  AWAY 

TO  HIS  ETERNAL  REST 

ON  THE  EARLY  MORN  OF  NOV.  Uth,  1873, 

JOHN   GOUGH    NICHOLS,    F.S.A. 
OF  HOLMWOOD  PARK, 

BORN  MAY  22nd,  1806. 


I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven  saying,  Blessed 
are  the  dead  wliicli  die  in  the  Lord 
that  they  may  rest  from  their  labours  ;  and 
their  works  do  follow  them. 

Rev.  xiv.  13. 

A  monumental  brass  has  been  prepared  from  the  design  of 
his  friend  Mr.  Waller  to  be  placed  in  the  church,  bearing  the 
following  inscription  : — 

TO  THE  DEAR  MEMORY  OF 
JOHN  GOUGH  NICHOLS,  F.S.A. 

ELDEST    SON    OF   JOHN    BOWYER   NICHOLS,   F.S.A. 

AND  GRANDSON  OF  JOHN  NICHOLS,  F.S.A. 

THE  HISTORIAN  OF  LEICESTERSHIRE, 

BORN  MAY  22nd,  1806, 

DIED  AT  HIS  RESIDENCE,  HOLMWOOD  PARK, 

NOVEMBER   14th,  1873. 


IN  TESTIMONY  OF  HER  SINCERE  AND  DEEP  AFFECTION,  THIS  MEMORIAL, 
DESIGNED  BY  HIS  OLD  AND  VALUED  FRIEND  JOHN  GREEN  WALLER,  IS 
ERECTED  BY  LUCY   HIS   W^DOW. 


Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might ;  for  there  is  no  worl;,  nor  device,  nor 
knowledge,  nor  wisdom  in  the  grave  whither  thou  goest. 

Ecclesiastes,  ix.   10. 


p^^ 


jfj^-npt-: r )J»'  •'  ■"     ■'■ 


ArPENDIX. 


SOCIETY  OF  ANTIQUARIES. 

Soc.  Antiq.  Lond., 

Somerset  House, 
Mv  i.EAii  Mr.  Nichols,  Nov.  28, 1873. 

1  am  instructed  by  the  President  and  Conncil  to  send  you  the 
accompanying  Resohition,  wliich  I  would  ask  you  to  communicate  to 
the  other  members  of  the  family  of  the  late  Mr.  Nichols. 

LH  my  o^yn  personal  sympathy  in  your  loss  I  have  already  assured 

you. 

Believe  me  yours  truly, 

C.  KNIGHT  WATSON. 
R.  C.  Nichols,  Esq. 

At  a  fleeting  of  the  Council  of  The  Society  of  Antiquaries  of 
London,  held  at  Somerset  House,  Tuesday,  November  25th,  1873, 
Frederic  Ouvry,  Esq.  Treasurer,  in  tlic  chair. 

It  was  resolved: — 

The  President  and  Council  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  have 
learnt  the  decease  of  their  Fellow  Member,  J.  G.  Nichols,  Esq.  with 
very  sincere  regret.  They  feel  that  a  void  not  easily  to  be  supplied 
has  been  made  in  the  ranks  of  Antiquarian  Science,  and,  while  desirous 
to  put  on  record  their  high  sense  of  his  character  and  services,  they 
wish  also  to  convey  an  expression  of  their  sympathy  to  his  surviving 
family. 

By  Order, 

C.  KNIGHT  WATSON. 


32  APPENDIX. 


CAMDEN  SOCIETY. 

Public  Record  Office, 

Chancery  Lane,  London, 
]\Iy  dear  Sir,  '  5  December,  187.3. 

I  am  directed  by  the  Council  of  the  Camden  Society  to  forward  to 
the  family  of  your  late  brother,  with  the  strongest  possible  expressions 
of  sympathy  on  their  behalf,  a  copy  of  a  Resolution  directed  to  be 
entered  on  the  minutes  of  the  Council  held  on  the  3rd  inst. :  — 

"  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  Council,  before  proceeding  to  the 
"  business  of  the  day,  desire  to  record  their  sense  of  the  great  loss  which 
"  the  Camden  Society  has  sustained  by  the  death  of  Mr.  John  Gough 
"  Nichols.  The  obligations  which  he  has  conferred  upon  the  Society 
"  have  been  great  and  various.  Mr.  Nichols  was  one  of  the  most  active 
"  of  those  by  whom  the  Society  was  originally  established ;  the  works 
"  edited  by  him  for  the  Society  have  been  alike  numerous  and  valuable ; 
"  and  of  the  volumes  issued  by  the  Society,  exceeding  one  hundred, 
"  there  are  few  which  have  not  been  benefited  by  his  careful  revision  and 
"  deep  historical  knowledge. 

"  The  Council  feel  assured  that  the  Society  at  large  will  share  their 
"  regret  at  the  death  of  an  amiable  and  accomplished  gentleman  with 
"  whom  they  have  been  so  long  associated,  and  the  sincerity  with  which 
"  they  desire  to  convey  to  his  widow  and  family  their  deep  sympathy 
"  with  them  in  their  great  bereavement," 

I  feel  deeply  sensible,  I  assure  you,  how  poor  words  are  to  convey 
the  sorrow  which  all  the  friends  of  the  late  Mr.  John  Gough  Nichols 
must  feel  when  remembering  th-at  he  is  lost  to  them.  The  friendly 
and  able  help  he  was  always  ready  to  offer  to  all  who  applied  to  him 
for  assistance,  has  left  a  host  of  pleasant  memories,  not  only  through- 
out the  C-  mden  Society  but  all  the  literary  world,  and  I  hope,  my 
dear  Sir,  that  the  few  words  in  which  the  Council  have  sought  to 
convey  to  you  how  great  their  appreciation  of  your  brother  has  been, 


APPENDIX.  33 

ami  Imw  deeply  tlioy  iloidoro  his  loss,  may  pruve  y;ralefal  to  y<ju  oven 
iiiider  these  very  painful  circunistimccs. 

Will  you  have  the  very  great  kindness  to  communicate  this  letter  to 
Mr.  Niehols's  family,  as   I  am  not  personally  acquainted  with  them, 
and  know  no  one,  except  yourself,  to  whom  to  address  myself. 
I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  witli  deep  sympathy, 
Yours  very  faithfully, 

ALFKED  KINGSTON, 
Robert  C.  Nichols,  Esq.  Hon.  Sec. 

At  the  General  Meeting  of  the  Camden  Society,  held  May  2,  1874, 
it  was  resolved  :  — 

"  That  the  Members  fully  concur  with  the  Council  of  the  Camden 
"  Society  in  recording  their  sense  of  the  great  loss  the  Society  has 
"  sustained  through  the  death  of  the  late  Mr,  John  Gougli  Nichols, 
"  and  their  grateful  reniorabrance  of  the  valuable  help  he  was  ever 
'•  ready  to  all'ord  them. 


LONDON  AND  MIDDLESEX  ARCHiEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 

London  and  Middlesex  ARCHiEOLOGicAL  Society, 

University  College,  Gower  Street,  London,  W.C, 
Mad.\m,  4  December,  1873. 

At  the  last  Meeting  of  the  Council  of  this  Society  the  members 
present  expressed  a  deep  sense  of  the  loss  this  Society  and  the  science 
of  Archa'ology  had  then  so  recently  sustained  by  the  death  of  your 
lamented  husband  ;  and  we  were  directed,  on  the  motion  of  Mr. 
AValler,  to  convey  to  yon  the  unanimous  condolence  and  sincere  sym- 
pathy of  the  Council  with  yourself  and  family  in  your  bereavement. 

They  did  not  fail  to  recollect  that  Mr.  Nichols  was  never  called 
upon  in  vain  for  that  assistance  which  his  deep  learning  ([ualified  him, 
and  his  ready  kindness  always  impelled   him,  to  give,  by  any  among 

e 


34  APPENDIX. 

them;   and  their  feelings  of  respect  for  his  memory  as  a  profound  and 

accomplished  Archaeologist  are  equalled  by  their  regret  for  his  loss  as 

a  kind  friend  and  loyal  colleague. 

May  we  add,  as  we  both  saw  much  of  him,  and  experienced  his 

readiness  at  all  times  either  to  aid  the  Society  or  to  render  assistance 

in  any  inquiry  in  which  we  might  ourselves  be  engaged,  our  desire  to 

join  personally  in  this  expression  of  condolence. 

We  are,  Madam, 

Your  faithful  servants, 

EDWAKD  W    BRABROOK,i/ro«. 

JOHN  EDWARD  PRICE,      \Secs. 
Mrs.  Nichols. 


THE  STATIONERS'  COMPANY. 

Stationers'  Hall. 

At  a  Court  of  Assistants,  held  on  Tuesday,  the  2nd 
day  of  December,  1873, 

It  was  unanimously  resolved: — 

"  That  this  Court  deeply  regret  the  great  loss  they  have  sustained 
by  the  death  of  John  Gough  Nichols,  Esq.  F.S.A.  Warden  of  this 
(Company,  who,  while  distinguished  for  his  literary  attainments, 
always  evinced  an  anxious  and  active  interest  in  the  welfare  of  this 
Company,  and  this  Court  desire  to  record  their  sense  of  the  great 
respect  and  esteem  in  which  his  memory  must  ever  be  revered  by  the 
Members  of  the  Stationers'  Company. 

"  And  that  a  Copy  of  the  above  Resolution  be  sent  to  Mrs.  Nichols." 

Extracted  from  the  Minutes. 

CHAS.  ROBERT  RIVINGTON, 

Clerk. 


APPENDIX.  35 


PRINTERS'  PENSION,  ALMSHOUSE,  AND  ORPHAN 
ASYLUM  CORPORATION. 

Copy  Resolution:  — 

"  The  Council  desire  to  express  their  sense  of  the  loss  which  this 

Corporation  has  sustained  by  the  decease  of  John  Gough  Nichols, 

Esq.  since  1845  one  of  their  Trustees,  and   to  record  their  grateful 

acknowledgments    of    the   kind    and   valuable   assistance   which   he 

rendered  to  the  objects  of  the  Institution  for  a  period  of  nearly  thirty 

years." 

J.  S.  HODSON, 

Secretary. 
Deccmljer,  1873. 


:\Cy 


WORKS  OF  MR.  JOHX  GOUGH  NICHOLS. 

Autographs  of  Ro3-al,  Noble,  Learned,  and  Remarkable  Tersonages  conspicuous 
in  English  History,  from  the  Reign  of  Richard  the  Second  to  that  of  Charles  the 
Second,  with  some  Illustrious  Foreigners.  Engraved  under  the  direction  of 
Charles  John  Smith.  Accompanied  by  concise  Biographical  Memoirs  and  inter- 
esting Extracts  from  the  original  Docmnents,  by  John  Gough  Nichols.  Imp.  4to. 
1829. 

London  Pageants.  I.  Accounts  of  Sixty  Royal  Processions  and  Entertain- 
ments in  the  City  of  London;  chieiiy  extracted  from  contemporary  writers. 
II.  A  Bibliographical  List  of  Lord  Mayors' Pageants.  Royal  8vo.  Pp.125.  1831. 

Annals  and  Antiquities  of  Lacock  Abbey,  in  the  county  of  Wilts,  with  Memo- 
rials of  Ela  the  Foundress,  the  Countess  of  Salisbmy,  and  of  the  Earls  of  Salis- 
bury of  the  Houses  of  Salisbury  and  Longespe,  Sec.  by  W.  L.  Bowles,  M.A.  and 
John  Gough  Nichols.     8yo.     1835. 

The  Modern  Histoiy  of  South  Wiltshire,  by  Sir  Richard  Colt  Hoare,  Bart. 
Vol.  V.  I.  The  Hundred  of  Alderbury,  by  Sir  R.  C.  Hoare  and  John  Gough 
Nichols,  F.S.A.  Folio,  Pp.  223.  Date  on  Title  of  Part,  1837;  on  that  of 
Volume,  184-1. 

Description  of  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  Warwick,  and  of  the  Beauchamp 
Chapel,  and  the  Monuments  of  the  Beauchamps  and  Dudleys ;  also,  of  the 
Chanti-y  Chapel  of  Isabella  Countess  of  Warwick,  in  Tewkesbury  Abbey.  4to. 
Pp.  40.     Seven  folio  plates.     JVa  date  (1838). 

An  Abridgement  of  the  same.     12mo. 

Ancient  Allegorical,  Historical,  and  Legendary  Paintings  in  Fresco,  discovered 
in  1804  on  the  walls  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Trinity  at  Stratford-upon-Avon,  from 
drawings  by  Thomas  Fisher,  F.S.A.  Avith  Fac-similes  of  Charters,  Seals,  Rolls 
of  Accounts,  &c.  Described  by  John  Gough  Nichols,  F.S.A.  Folio.  Pp.  14. 
Plates     1838. 

Notices  of  Sir  Nicholas  Lestrange,  Bart,  and  his  Family  Connexions.  In 
Anecdotes  nnd  Traditions,  edited  by  W.  J.  Thorns,  Esq.  F.S.A.  Camden 
Society's  Publications,  No.  V.     4to.     pp.  ix.-xxviii.     1839. 

The  Unton  Inventories,  relating  to  Wadley  and  Faringdon,  co.  Berks,  in  the 
years  1596  and  1620,  from  the  originals  in  the  possession  of  Earl  Ferrers.  With 
a  Memoir  of  the  Family  of  Unton.  Printed  for  the  Berkshire  Ashmolean  Society. 
4to.     Pp.  Ixxxviii.  56.     1841. 


WORKS  OF   MR.  .T.  G.  NICHOLS.  37 

The  Fislinioiif^crs'  ragoant  on  lyjnl  Mayor's  Day,  IGIG.  Clirysanalcia,  the 
Golden  Fishing',  tleviseil  l>y  Anthony  Munday,  Citizen  and  Draper.  Represented 
in  twelve  phitcs  by  Henry  Shaw,  F.S.A.,  from  contemporary  drawin<,'.s  in  the 
possession  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of  Fishmongers.  Aceompanied  with 
various  illustrative  documents,  and  an  Historical  Introduction  1)}'  John  Gough 
Nichols.  F.S.A.  Lond.  and  Newc,  Citizen  and  Stationer.  Printed  for  the  Wor- 
shipful Company  of  Fishmongers.     Imp.  folio.     1844. 

The  same.     Second  edition.     1869. 

Examples  of  Decorative  Tiles,  sometimes  termed  Encaustic,  engraved  in  fac- 
simile, chiefly  in  their  original  size,  witli  Introductory  Remarks.  4to.  Text 
pp.  xxxii.     Woodcuts  101  on  pp.  97.     1815. 

The  Chronicle  of  Calais  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VII.  and  Henry  VIII.  to  the 
year  lo40.  Edited  from  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum.  C.  S.  No.  XXXV.  4to. 
Pp.  xlii.  228.     184G. 

Chronicle  of  the  Rebellion  in  Lincolnshire  1470.  Pp.  28.  Journal  of  the 
Siege  of  Rouen,  1591.  By  Sir  Thomas  Coningsby  of  Hampton  Court,  co.  Here- 
ford, pp.  84.    In  The  Ckimdcn  Miscellany,  Vol.  I.    C.  S.  No.  xxxix.    4to.    1847. 

The  Diary  of  Henry  Machyn,  Citizen  and  Merchant  Taylor  of  London.  From 
A.D.  1550  to  A.D.  1563.     C.  S.  No.  XLii.     4to.     Pp.  xxxii.  464.     1848. 

Pilgrimages  to  Saint  Mary  of  Walsingham  and  Saint  Thomas  of  Canterbury. 
By  Desiderius  Erasmus.  Newly  translated,  with  the  Colloquy  on  Rash  Vows 
by  tlic  same  Author,  and  his  Characters  of  Archbishop  Warham  and  Dean 
Colet,  and  illustrated  with  Notes.   8vo.   Pp.  6,  xxiii.  248,  and  frontispiece.   1849. 

Description  of  the  Armorial  Window  on  the  Staircase  at  Beaumanor,  co. 
Leicester.     Privately  printed.     8vo.    Pp.  8.     Xo  date  (1849). 

The  Literary  Remains  of  John  Stockdale  Hardy,  Fellow  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries,  sometime  Registrar  of  the  Archdeaconry  Courts  of  Leicester. 
Edited  in  pursuance  of  his  will  by  John  Gough  Nichols,  F.S.A.  8vo. 
Pp.  xxiv.  487.     Five  Plates.     1852. 

The  Chronicle  of  Queen  Jane,  and  of  two  years  of  Queen  Mary,  and  especially 
of  the  Rebellion  of  Sir  Thomas  Wyat.  AVritten  l)y  a  Resident  in  the  Tower  of 
London  :  with  illustrative  Documents  and  Notes.  C.  S.  No.  XLViii.  4to. 
Pp.  viii.  196.     1850. 

Chronicle  of  the  Grey  Friars  of  London.  C.  S.  No.  Liii.  4to.  Pp.  xxxv. 
108.     1852. 

The  Discovery  of  the  Jesuits' College  at  Clerkenwell  in  March  1627-8;  and 
a  Letter  found  in  their  House  (as  asserted)  directed  to  the  Father  Rector  at 
Bruxelles.  4to.  Pp.  G4.  1852.  In  The  Camden  Mlsccllaiiy,  Vol.  11.  C.  S. 
No.  LV.     1853. 


38  WORKS  OF  MR.  J.  G.  NICnOLS. 

Grants,  &c.  from  the  Crown  during  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Fifth,  from  tlic 
original  Docket  Book,  MS.  Harl.  433;  and  two  Speeches  for  opening  Parliament, 
by  John  Russell,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  Lord  Chancellor.  With  an  Historical  Intro- 
duction.    C.  S.  No.  LX.     4to.     Pp.  Ixvii.  96.     1854. 

Inventories  of  the  Wardrobes,  Plate,  Chapel  Stuff,  &c.  of  Henry  PitzRoy 
Duke  of  Richmond;  and  of  the  Wardrobe  Stuff,  at  Baynard's  Castle,  of 
Katharine  Princess  Dowager.  With  a  Memoir  and  Letters  of  the  Duke  of 
Richmond.  4to.  Pp.  c.  55.  In  The  Camden  Miscellany,  Vol.  III.  C.  S. 
No.  LXi.     1855. 

Literary  Remains  of  King  Edward  the  Sixth.  Edited  from  his  Autograph 
Manuscripts,  with  Historical  Notes  and  a  Biographical  Memoir,  by  John  Gough 
Nichols,  F.S.A.  Printed  for  the  Roxburghe  Club.  4to.  2  volumes.  Pp.  ccclx. 
636.     1857-8. 

The  Letters  of  Pope  to  Atterbury  when  in  the  Tower  of  London.  4to. 
Pp.  22.     In  The  Camden  Miscellany,  Vol.  IV.     C.  S.  No.  LXXIII.     1859. 

Narratives  of  the  Days  of  the  Reformation,  chiefly  from  the  Manuscripts  of 
John  Foxe,  the  Martyrologist,  with  two  Contemporary  Biographies  of  Arch- 
bishop Cranmer,     C.  S.  No.  Lxxvil,     4to.    Pp.  xxviii.  366.     1859. 

The  Armorial  Windows  erected  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  by  John  Viscount 
Beaumont  and  Katharine  Duchess  of  Norfolk  in  Woodhousc  Chapel,  by  the 
Park  of  Beaumanor,  in  Charnwood  Forest,  Leicestershire,  including  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  differences  of  the  coat  of  Neville.  Read  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Leicestershire  Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society  at 
Loughborough,  July  27th,  1859.  Privately  printed.  4to  and  8vo.  Pp.  iv.  50, 
and  Pedigree.     1860, 

The  Boke  of  Noblesse  :  addressed  to  King  Edward  the  Fourth  on  his  Invasion 
of  France  in  1475.  With  an  Introduction  by  John  Gough  Nichols,  F.S.A. 
Printed  for  the  Roxburghe  Club.  4to.  Pp.  Ix.  96.  (Presented  to  the  Club  by 
Lord  Delamere).     1860. 

A  Descriptive  Catalogue  (m  Second  Edition  of  the  First  Series)  of  the  Works 
of  the  Camden  Society,  stating  the  nature  of  their  principal  Contents,  the 
Periods  of  Time  to  which  they  relate,  the  Dates  of  their  Composition,  their 
Manuscript  Sources,  Authors,  and  Editors,  accompanied  by  a  Classified  Ar- 
rangement and  an  Index,  and  Illustrative  Particulars.  4to.,  uniform  with 
Camden  series,  pp.  xvi.  72.     1 862. 

Do.    do.     The  Second  Edition.     4to.     Pp.  xxiv.  92.     1872. 

The  Family  Alliances  of  Denmark  and  Great  Britain  from  the  earliest  times 
to  the  present.  Illustrated  by  Genealogical  Tables  and  a  plate  of  the  Arms  of 
Denmark.     8vo.     Pp.  46.     1863. 


WORKS  OF  MR.  J.  O.  NICHOLS.  39 

Wills  fri)in  Doctors'  Commons.  A  selection  of  the  Wills  of  Eminent  Persons 
provcil  in  the  Prorof^ativc  Court  of  Ciinterhury  1495-1695.  Edited  by  J.  G. 
Nichols  and  John  Bruce.     C.  S.  No.  LXXXIII.     4to.     Pp.  viii.  175.     1863. 

The  Ilenilds'  Visitations  of  the  Counties  of  England  and  Wales.  An  account 
of  what  has  lieen  done  towards  their  puhlication.     8vo.  Pp.  ii.  60.     186-1. 

llistor}'  from  Marble.  Compiled  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  by  Thomas 
Dinglcy,  Gent.  Printed  in  Photo-lithography  by  Vincent  Brooks  from  the 
original  m  the  possession  of  Sir  Tliomas  Winnington,  Bart.,  with  an  Intro- 
duction and  Descriptive  Table  of  Contents.  C.  S.  Nos.  XCIV.  and  XCVIi.  Two 
volumes  4to.     Pp.  196,  ccccxvii.     1867-8. 

An  History  of  the  original  Parish  of  Whalley  and  Honor  of  Clitheroe,  in  the 
counties  of  Lancaster  and  York,  to  which  is  subjoined  an  Account  of  the  parish 
of  Cartmell.  By  Thomas  Dunham  Whitaker,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.,  Vicar  of  WTialley. 
The  fourth  edition,  revised  and  enlarged.  By  John  Gough  Nichols,  F.S  A, 
Vol.  I.     Royal  4to.     Pp.  Ixvi.  362.     1870. 

The  following  works  were  left  unfinished  by  Mr.  Nichols  at  his 
death,  but  will  shortly  be  completed  and  issued  : — 

History  of  Whalley,  Vol.  II. 

Two  Sennons  preached  by  Child  Bishopsat  St.  Paul's  and  at  Gloucester:  with 
other  Documents  relating  to  that  Festivity.  For  The  Camden  Miscellany,  Vol.  VII. 

Autobiography  of  Ann  Lady  Halket  in  the  reigns  of  Charles  I.  and  Charles  II. 
For  tlie  Camden  Society. 

The  Legend  of  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton.     For  the  Roxburghc  Club . 

Periodical  Publications,  edited  by  Mr.  J.  G.  Nichols : — 

The  Gentleman's  Magazine  and  Historical  Review,  from  December  1851.    New 
Series,  Vols.  XXXVL  to  XLV.     Demy  8vo.     1851-1856. 
Collectanea  Topograph ica  et  Genealogica.     8  vols.    Royal  Svo.     1834-1843. 
The  Topographer  and  Genealogist.     3  vols.     Demy  8vo.     1846-1858. 
The  Herald  and  Genealogist.     8  vols.     Demy  8vo.     1863-1874. 

Papers  communicated  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  : — 

Description  of  a  Brass  Plate  from  Tours  with  inscription.  Read  Feb.  3,  1831. 
Archaologia,  Vol.  XXIII.  pp.  427-429. 

Observations  on  Ancient  Paintings  in  St.  Mary's  Chm'ch  at  Guildford.  Read 
Feb.  16,  1837.     Vol.  XXVIL  pp.  413,  414. 

Remarks  on  a  Specimen  of  Ancient  Damask.  Rcail  March  9,  1837.  Ibid, 
pp.  421-423. 


40  AVOKKS  OF  MR.  J.  G.  NICHOLS. 

Observations  on  the  Heraldic  Devices  discovered  on  the  Effigies  of  Richard 
the  Second  and  his  Queen  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  upon  the  mode  in  which 
those  ornaments  were  executed  :  including  some  Eemarks  on  the  Surname  Plan- 
tagenet  and  on  the  Ostrich  Feathers  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Eead  June  4, 
1840.     Vol.  XXIX.  pp.  32-59. 

Description  of  the  Silver  Matrix  of  the  Seal  of  Thomas  de  Prayers.  Read 
June  10,  1841.     Ibid.  pp.  405-407. 

The  second  Patent  appointing  Edward  Duke  of  Somerset  Protector,  temp. 
King  Edward  the  Sixth :  introduced  by  an  Historical  Review  of  the  various 
measures  connected  therewith.  Read  March  21,  1844.  Vol.  XXX.  pp  463- 
489. 

On  an  Amity  formed  between  the  Companies  of  Fishmongers  and  Gold- 
smiths of  London,  and  a  consequent  Participation  of  their  Coat-Amiour.  Read 
February  22,  1841.     Ibid.  pp.  499-513. 

Description  of  an  Ivory  Diptych.     Read  Dec.  9,  1847.     Vol.  XXXII.  p.  456. 

Some  Additions  to  the  Biographies  of  Sir  John  Cheke  and  Sir  Thomas  Smith: 
in  a  Letter  addressed  to  Charles  Henry  Cooper,  Esq.  F.S.A.,  one  of  the  Authors 
of  the  Atheuffi  Cantabrigienses.  Read  March  31,  1859.  Vol.  XXXVIII.  pp. 
98-127. 

Inventory  of  the  goods  of  Dame  Agnes  Hungerford,  attainted  of  miirder 
14  Henry  VIII.;  with  remarks  thereon  by  J.  G.  N.  and  the  Rev.  John  Edward 
Jackson,  M.A.  F.S.A.     Read  May  19,  1859.     Ibid.  pp.  353-372. 

Notices  of  the  Contemporaries  and  Successors  of  Holbein.  Read  March  13, 
1862.     Vol.  XXXIX.  pp.  19-4G. 

Remarks  upon  Holbein'.s  Portraits  of  the  Royal  Family  of  England,  and  more 
particularly  upon  the  several  Portraits  of  the  Queens  of  Henry  the  Eighth.  Read 
June  4,  1863.     Vol.  XL.  pp.  71-80. 

An  original  Appointment  of  Sir  John  Fastolfe  to  be  Keeper  of  the  Bastille  of 
St.  Anthony,  at  Paris,  in  1421.  With  Illustrative  Remarks.  Read  Dec.  8, 1870. 
Vol.  XLIIL  pp.  113-123. 

Observations  on  Religious  and  Social  Guilds  suggested  hy  the  Charters  of  Con- 
fraternity of  the  Pardon  of  Walsoken,  and  the  History  of  the  College  or  Hospital 
of  Walsoken.  Read  May  8,  1873.  To  be  printed  in  Transactions  of  the  Norfolk 
and  Norwich  Archaological  Society,  Vol.  VIII.  (An  Abstract  in  Proceedings 
S.A.  Vol.  VI.  pp.  15-19.) 

On  certain  Portraits  by  Quintin  Matsys  and  Holbein  in  the  Collection  of  the 
Earl  of  Radnor,  at  Longford  Castle.  Read  May  15,  1873.  To  be  printed  in 
Archceologia,  Vol.  XLIV. 


WORKS  OF  MR.  J.  G.  NICHOLS.  41 

Papers  coimnunicated  to  the  Arch.eolooical  Institute  : — 

A  Secret  History  of  a  rcniaiknhle  Passage  in  the  Life  of  Charles  Brandou 
Duke  of  Suffolk.  Read  at  the  meeting  at  Winchester,  Sept.  12,  1845,  Itut  not 
printed  (?) 

Ou  the  Seals  of  the  Earls  ofWinchester,  and  Un  the  Seals  of  Winchester  City, 
and  on  the  Seals  for  the  Recognizances  of  Debtors  temp.  Edw.  III.  Read  at  the 
same  meeting  on  Sept.  13,  1845.     Proceedings,  ^-c.  Winchester,  pp.  103-110. 

On  the  Seals  for  Cloths  used  by  the  King's  Aulnagcr.  Read  at  the  same  time 
but  not  printed  (?) 

On  rrecatory  or  Mortuary  Rolls,  and  particularly  one  of  the  Abbey  of  West 
Dereham,  Norfolk.  Read  at  Nonvich,  August  3,  1847.  Memoirs,  Sfc.  Norwich, 
pp.  99-114. 

The  Descent  of  the  Earldom  of  Lincoln,  with  Notices  of  the  Seals  of  the  Earls. 
Read  at  Lincoln  July  31,  1848.     Jhmoirs,  <fc.  Lincoln,  pp.  253-279. 

The  Earldom  of  Salisbury.  Read  at  Salisbury,  July  1849.  Memoirs,  &c. 
Salisbiir>/,  pp.  211-234. 

On  the  Descent  of  the  Earldom  of  Oxford.  Read  at  Oxford  on  June  21, 1850. 
Arch.  Journal.     Vol.  IX.  pp.  17-28. 

The  Descent  of  the  Earldom  of  Gloucester.  Read  at  Bristol,  August  2,  1851. 
Memoirs,  i^'c.  Bristol,  pp.  G5-79. 

Papers  communicated  to  the  Londok  and  Middlesex  Arch^.o- 
LOGicAL  Association: — 

Answer  filed  in  Equity  respecting  the  Park  and  Common  at  Haworth,  temp. 
Charles  II.     Transactions.    Vol.  I.  pp.  183-191. 

The  Brass  of  John  Birkhede  at  Harrow.     Vol.  I.  pp.  276-284. 

Biography  of  Richard  Gough,  Esq.  Director  S.A.  (Abstract.)  Vol.  I. 
pp.  319,  320. 

The  Ancient  Mace  or  Jewelled  Sceptre  at  Guildhall.     Vol.  I.  pp.  355-6. 

Notices  of  the  Stationers'  Company,  their  Hall,  Pictures,  and  Plate,  and  their 
Ancient  Seal  of  Arms,  Read  at  Stationers'  Hall,  April  12,  18G0.  Vol.  11. 
pp.  37-61. 

(This  was  also  separately  printed  under  the  title  "  Historical  Notices  of  the 
Stationers'  Company,  &c."  for  private  distribution.     Demy  4to.     1861.) 

Pictures  in  the  Deanery  at  Westminster.     Ibid.  pp.  167,  168. 

Henry  de  Yeveley,  one  of  the  Architects  of  Westminster  Hall.  Ibid.  pji. 
259-266. 

Notices  of  Pictures  in  the  Middle  Temple  Hall,  the  Parliament  Chamber,  and 
Inner  Temple  Hall,  and  Pictures  at  Bridewell.    Ibid.  pp.  65-74. 

/ 


42  WORKS  OF  MR.  J.  G.  NICHOLS. 

Notices  of  John  Lovekyn,  four  times  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  Master  of 
Sir  William  Walworth.     Vol.  in.  pp.  133-1.37. 

The  Muniments  of  the  Vintners'  Company.     Ibid.  pp.  432-447. 

The  Biography  of  Sir  William  Harper,  Alderman  of  London,  Founder  of  the 
Bedford  Charities.     Read  Feb.  14,  1870.     Vol.  IV.  pp.  70-93. 

Remarks  on  the  Mercers'  and  other  Trading  Companies  of  London,  followed 
by  some  account  of  the  Records  of  the  Mercers'  Company.  Read  at  Mercers' 
Hall  April  21,  1869.     Ibid.  pp.  131-147. 

A  Triple  Civic  Marriage  in  the  year  1560  and  other  Notes  in  illustration  of 
Machyn's  Diary.  Read  March  13,  1871.  Proceedings  at  Evening  Meetings. 
pp.  30,  31. 

Papers  communicated  to  the  Surrey  Arch j]:ological  Society  : — 

Bowyer  of  Camberwell.  Surrey  Archcsological  Collections,  Vol.  III.  pp. 
220-226, 

The  Origin  and  early  History  of  the  Family  of  Newdigate  so  long  as  they 
remained  connected  with  Surrey.  Read  at  Newdegate  on  the  visit  of  the 
Surrey  Archteological  Society,  July  4,  1872.     Vol.  VI. 


POSTSCRIPT. 


SOCIETY  OF  ANTIQUARIES. 

Tlie  Annual  Address  of  Earl  Stanhope,  President,  delivered 
on  St.  George's  Day  1874,  contained  the  following  notice  of 
Mr.  Nichols — 

.loHN  GouGH  Nichols,  Esq.,  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Bowyer 
Nichols,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  and  grandson  of  John  Nicliols,  Esq.,  F.S.A., 
author  of  the  great  History  of  Leicestershire,  and  of  the  well-knoAvn 
Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  &c.,  the  pupil,  partner, 
and  successor  of  William  Bowyer,  who  belonged  to  a  family  of  printers 
reaching  back  to  a  period  shortly  anterior  to  the  Revolution  of  1688. 
Mr.  John  Gough  Nichols — so  called  from  his  godftxther,  the  distin- 
guished Antiquary,  Richard  Gough — was  born  at  his  father's  resi- 
dence in  London  in  180G.  His  first  work  was  to  take  part  in  the 
compilation  of  the  "Progresses  of  King  James  the  First;  "  he  also 
assisted  in  the  editorship  of  the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine."  This  last 
was  an  office  he  continued  to  discharge  up  to  the  year  1856,  when 
^lessrs.  Nichols  relinquished  the  proprietorship  of  that  publication. 
I  must,  however,  leave  it  to  others  to  enumerate  and  describe  the 
important  literary  labours  which  IMr.  John  Gough  Nichols  carried  to 
a  successful  close  outside  the  pale  of  this  Society,  and  must  confine 
myself  to  a  few  details  as  to  the  contributions  he  made  to  our  own 
Transactions.  He  was  elected  a  Fellow  on  the  3rd  of  December, 
183r»,  but  his  first  communication  to  the  Archa?ologia,  vol.  xxiii.  427, 
''  On  an  Inscription  from  a  Chapel  at  Tours  in  France,"  bears  the  yet 
earlier  date  of  February  24,  1831.     In  1837  we  find  him  describing. 

/2 


44  POSTSCRIPT. 

in  the  course  of  one  month,  some  paintings  from  St.  Mary's  Church, 
Guiklford,  and  a  Specimen  of  Ancient  Damask  Linen  of  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  (ArchcTologia,  xxvii.  413 — 421.)  One  of  the  most 
important  of  his  memoirs  is  entitled,  "  Observations  on  the  Heraklic 
Devices  discovered  on  the  Effigies  of  Richard  the  Second  and  his 
Queen  in  Westminster  Abbey,  inchiding  some  remarks  on  the  sur- 
name, Plantagenet,  and  on  the  Ostrich  Feathers  of  the  Prince  of 
"Wales."  (Archajologia,  xxix.  32.)  The  thirtieth  volume  contains 
four  memoirs,  of  which  the  most  important  is  that  on  "  The  Second 
Patent  appointing  Edward,  Duke  of  Somerset,  Protector,  temp. 
Edward  the  Sixth."  In  1856  Mr.  J.  G.  Nichols  communicated,  in  a 
letter  to  George  Scharf,  Esq.^  F.S.A.,  an  Account  of  some  Old 
Tapestry  in  St  Mary's  Hall  at  Coventry  (Archa^ologia,  xxxvi.  448), 
and  in  the  following  year  we  find  fi'om  his  pen  an  important  contri- 
liution  to  biographical  literature  under  the  modest  title  of  "  Some 
Additions  to  the  Biographies  of  Sir  John  Cheke  and  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,"  two  of  the  great  Cambridge  scholars  who  adorned  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII.  In  1862  Mr.  J.  G.  Nichols  added  a  valuable  contri- 
bution to  the  materials  which  about  that  time  were  brought  before 
the  Society  in  connection  with  Holbein,  in  the  shape  of  a  Memoir 
entitled  "  Notices  of  the  Contemporaries  and  Successors  of  Holbein." 
(Archseologia,  xxxix,  19.)  This  Society  having  established  on  a 
firm  basis  the  fact  that  Holbein  died  eleven  years  sooner  than  the 
date  ordinarily  assigned  to  his  decease,  it  naturally  became  a  question 
of  great  importance  in  the  history  of  art  in  England  to  find  out 
who  painted  the  pictures  which  have  hitherto  passed  as  the  works 
of  Holbein,  and  to  this  question  Mr,  J.  G.  Nichols,  in  the  paper 
I  have  named,  attempted  to  furnish  an  answer.  Of  a  somewhat 
similar  scope  was  the  memoir  laid  before  the  Society  under  the  title 
"  Remarks  upon  Holbein,  Portraits  of  the  Royal  Family  of  England, 
and  more  particularly  upon  the  several  Portraits  of  the  Queens  of 
Henry  the  Eighth.  (Archa?ologia,  xl.  71.)  In  1866  we  find  Mr. 
Nichols  acting  as  a  Member  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Society  to  examine  and  consider  the  authenticity,  as  impugned  by  the 
late  Mr.  Herman  Merivale,  of  the  Paston  Letters.  His  Report  on  this 
interesting  subject  will  be  found  in  the  Archa^ologia,  vol.  x.  41 — 72. 


III  1870  he  laid  before  the  Society  a  papiT  on  "  An  Original  Appoint- 
ment of  Sir  John  Fasti  •Iff  to  he  Keeper  of  the  Bastille  of  St.  Anthony 
at  Paris  in  1121."  (Arcluvologia,  xliv.  ll.'B.)  Still  more  recently,  on 
till'  15th  of  May,  1873,  he  oontrilnited  not  the  least  valuable  of  his 
papers,  under  the  heading  "  On  certain  Portraits  by  Quintin  ^latsys 
and  Holbein  in  the  collection  of  the  Earl  of  Radnor,  at  Longford 
Castle."  This  jiaper  will  be  published  in  a  future  part  of  the 
Archa?ologia. 

As  an  Antiquary  his  death  has  made  a  void  which  it  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  call  irreparable  as  regards  the  particular  line  of  inquiry  to 
which  he  devoted  himself.  And,  even  were  it  otherwise,  the  mere 
fact  that  for  more  than  a  century  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Nichols  has  been 
officially  connected  with  this  Society  as  the  Society's  Printers  would 
alone  entitle  his  name  to  expressions  of  affection  and  respect,  and 
invest  his  death  with  some  part,  at  least,  of  the  mournful  sympathy 
which  attaches  to  a  domestic  bereavement. 

I  may  further  mention  that  within  these  few  days  I  have  received 
from  America  a  copy  of  the  second  part  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  for  the  past  year.  That  part  contains  an  able  Obituary  notice 
of  Mr.  Nichols,  who  was  an  honorary  member  of  that  Society  ;  the 
notice  being  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Whitniore,  and  going  into  full 
details.  I  feel  great  pleasure  in  extracting  from  it  the  following 
passage :  "  Here,  in  America,  we  have  reason  to  regret  his  loss,  as 
being  one  of  the  few  English  genealogists  who  felt  an  interest  in  the 
trans  Atlantic  branches  of  English  families.  Mr.  Nichols  was  one  of 
the  leaders  of  the  new  school  of  genealogists,  and  one  of  those  who 
seek  the  truth  in  all  things  and  who  subject  every  thing  to  analysis 
and  proof.  To  many  of  us  the  notice  of  his  death  was  a  shock  as 
great  as  the  loss  of  any  of  our  immediate  circle,  and  we  feel  it  to  be 
as  great  a  calamity  to  America  as  to  English  literature. 

Let  me  add  that  I  design  to  place  in  our  library,  for  permanent 
preservation,  the  whole  of  this  interesting  paper. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO 
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