Life

The eldest son of John Nichols

John Nichols (printer)

John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...

, by his second wife, Martha Green (1756–1788), he was born at Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street

Fleet Street

Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...

, London, 15 July 1779. He spent his early years with his maternal grandfather at Hinckley, Leicestershire, and was educated at St Paul's School, London, which he left in September 1796 to enter his father's printing office.

He had a part in the editorship of the Gentleman's Magazine, and contributed under the initials J. B. N., or N. R. S. (the final letters of his name). He became the sole proprietor of the magazine in 1833, and in the following year transferred a share to William Pickering

William Pickering (publisher)

William Pickering was an English publisher, notable for introducing cloth binding to British publishing before 1820.Pickering began working as an antiquarian bookseller before 1820, and quickly moved into publishing...

 of Piccadilly

Piccadilly

Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...

. This share he subsequently repurchased, and in 1856 conveyed the whole property to John Henry Parker

John Henry Parker

John Henry Parker CB , English writer on architecture and publisher, was the son of John Parker, a London merchant....

 of Oxford.

The printing firm became J. Nichols, Son, & Bentley, with an office at the Cicero's Head, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, as well as at 25 Parliament Street, Westminster. Nichols had become one of the printers of the votes and proceedings of the Houses of Parliament, an appointment in which he followed his father and William Bowyer

William Bowyer

William Bowyer was an English printer.Born in London, he was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and in 1722 became a partner in his father's business. In 1729 he was appointed printer of the votes of the British House of Commons, and in 1736 printer to the Society of Antiquaries, of which...

 (1699–1777). For a short time he was printer to the corporation of the city of London. In 1821, after the resignation of his father, he became one of the three registrars of the Royal Literary Fund

Royal Literary Fund

The Royal Literary Fund is a benevolent fund set up to help published British writers in financial difficulties. It was founded by Reverend David Williams in 1790 and has received bequests and donations, including royal patronage, ever since...

. He was master of the Stationers' Company in 1850, having served all the annual offices.

Towards the end of his life he became blind. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society (1812) and of the Society of Antiquaries of London

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

 (1818), and was appointed their printer in 1824; he was an original member of the Athenæum Club, the Royal Archaeological Institute

Royal Archaeological Institute

The Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is a learned society, established in 1844, primarily devoted to the publication of the Archaeological Journal, a production of archaeological news that has been in print since 1844....

, the Numismatic Society, and the Royal Society of Literature

Royal Society of Literature

The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...

. He also filled various public offices in Westminster.

He died at Ealing on 19 October 1863, aged 84, and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery

Kensal Green Cemetery

Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...

. There are portraits of Nichols by J. Jackson, in watercolour, about 1818; by F. Hopwood, in pencil, 1821; by John Wood, in oil, 1836; and by Samuel Laurence, in chalks, 1850. The last was lithographed by J. H. Lynch. W. Behnes exhibited a bust of him at the Royal Academy in 1858.

Works

He superintended the passing through the press of major county histories

English county histories

English county histories, in other words historical and topographical works concerned with individual ancient counties of England before their reorganisation, were produced by antiquarians from the late 16th century onwards...

. These included George Ormerod

George Ormerod

George Ormerod was an English antiquary and historian. Amongst his writings was a major account of the history of Cheshire, a county in northwestern England.-Biography:...

's Cheshire, Robert Clutterbuck

Robert Clutterbuck

-Life:He was the eldest surviving son of Thomas Clutterbuck, of Watford, Hertfordshire, by Sarah, daughter of Robert Thurgood of Baldock. He was born at Watford on 28 June 1772, and at an early age was sent to Harrow School. He went to Exeter College, Oxford as a gentleman commoner. After...

's Hertfordshire, Robert Surtees

Robert Surtees (antiquarian)

Robert Surtees was a celebrated English historian and antiquary of his native County Durham. Surtees was born in Durham, and educated at Kepier School, Houghton-le-Spring, and later at Christ Church, Oxford. Although a student of law he never practised as a lawyer...

's Durham, James Raine's North Durham, Colt Hoare's Wiltshire, Joseph Hunter

Joseph Hunter (antiquarian)

Joseph Hunter was a Unitarian Minister and antiquarian best known for his publications Hallamshire. The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York and the two-volume South Yorkshire , still considered among the best works written on the history of Sheffield and South...

's South Yorkshire, George Baker

George Baker (topographer)

George Baker , topographer and historian, was a native of Northampton, England.While a schoolboy, at the age of 13, he wrote a manuscript history of Northampton, and from that time he was always engaged in enlarging his collections...

's Northamptonshire, Thomas Dunham Whitaker

Thomas Dunham Whitaker

Thomas Dunham Whitaker was an English clergyman and topographer.-Life:Born at Rainham on 8 June 1759, he was son of William Whitaker , curate of Rainham, Norfolk, by his wife Lucy, daughter of Robert Dunham, and widow of Ambrose Allen...

's Whalley and Craven, and George Lipscomb's Buckinghamshire. He left large printed and manuscript collections on English topography. His last literary undertaking was the completion (vol. vii. in 1848 and vol. viii. in 1856) of his father's Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, the sequel to the Literary Anecdotes. William Bray

William Bray (antiquary)

-Life:Bray was the fourth and youngest son of Edward Bray of Shere in Surrey, who married Ann, daughter of Rev. George Duncomb. When ten years old he was entered Rugby School. On leaving school he was placed with an attorney, Mr...

 refers to the accuracy of Nichols in revising the proof-sheets of the second volume of his edition of Owen Manning

Owen Manning

Owen Manning was an English clergyman and antiquarian, known as a historian of Surrey.-Life:Son of Owen Manning of Orlingbury, Northamptonshire, he was born there on 11 August 1721, and received his education at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1740, M.A. in 1744, and B.D. in...

's History of Surrey. Nichols circulated proposals in 1811 for printing the third and fourth volumes of John Hutchins's Dorset, of which the stock of the first three volumes had been lost in the fire on his father's premises in 1808. The fourth volume appeared in 1815, with his name on the title-page jointly with that of Richard Gough. In 1818 he published the autobiography of the bookseller John Dunton

John Dunton

John Dunton was an English bookseller and author. In 1691, he founded an Athenian Society to publish The Athenian Mercury, the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England.-Early life:...

, which had furnished materials for the Literary Anecdotes of his father.

Other works were:

• ‘A brief Account of the Guildhall of the City of London,’ London, 1819.
• ‘Account of the Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine, near the Tower,’ London, 1824,(based on the history of Andrew Ducarel
  Andrew Ducarel
  Andrew Coltee Ducarel , was an English antiquary. He was also member of the College of Civilians who practiced civil law...
  
  , 1782, with additional plates).
• ‘Historical Notices of Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire,’ London, 1836, (based on the publications of J. Britton and J. Rutter, with plates from the work of Rutter).
• ‘Catalogue of the Hoare Library at Stourhead, co. Wilts, with an Account of the Museum of British Antiquities,’ printed for private use, London, 1840. ‘Notices of the Library at Stourhead’ were contributed by Nichols to the ‘Wiltshire and Natural History Magazine,’ 1855, vol. ii.

Nichols also edited:

• Joseph Cradock's Memoirs, vols. iii. and iv. 1828;
• ‘Anecdotes of William Hogarth,’ 1833, with forty-eight plates, a compilation from his father's ‘Biographical Anecdotes of Mr. Hogarth’;
• John Thomas Smith, ‘Cries of London,’ 1839; and
• History and Antiquities of the Abbey of St. Edmunds Bury by Richard Yates, second edition, London, 1843, 2 parts.

Family

He married, in 1805, Eliza Baker (d. 1846), by whom he had fourteen children; of these there survived three sons: John Gough Nichols, Robert Cradock Nichols (d. 1892), and Francis Morgan Nichols (b. 1826); and four daughters.