Orders, Decorations and Medals

Three: Major-General O. H. A. Nicolls, Colonel Commandant, Royal Artillery
Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol, unnamed; India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Perak (Major, 9th By. 2nd Bde. R.A.); Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed, very fine (3) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late Robert Lamb.

View
Collection

Oliver Henry Atkins Nicolls was born at Bognor, Sussex, son of Lieutenant-Colonel G. G. Nicolls, and Grandson of General Oliver Nicloos, Colonel of the 66th Foot. He served in the Crimea with 1 Company, 9 Battalion, Siege Train, R.A., and was present at the 1st bombardment of Sebastopol, October 1854, and at the 6th bombardment and the fall of Sebastopol in September 1855. He was promoted 2nd Captain in April 1860 and went to Ceylon later that year as A.D.C. to Sir Terence O’Brien, G.O.C. Ceylon, and later as Assistant Military Secretary. He went to Penang and Singapore in June 1872 and took part in the Perak Expedition 1875-76, in command of the Royal Artillery - 9th Battery 2nd Brigade - throughout the operations in Perak under Major-General Hon. Sir F. Colbourne, including the advance on and capture of Kinta in December 1875 (Mentioned in despatches, medal with clasp). Promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in July 1876, in recognition of his services in Perak, and returned to the U.K. the following year. He subsequently served in Barbados, West Indies, as Commander Royal Artillery, and as Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, Ireland, on the staff of Prince Edward of Sax-Weimar, Commanding the Forces in Ireland; Commander Royal Artillery, North Britain, XI District, 1887; Major-General 1890; G.O.C. Royal Artillery, Malta, 1891; Colonel Commandant Royal Artillery, 1904. He died at Chichester on 15 October 1920. His funeral service was held in Chichester Cathedral where there are several memeorial tablets to distinguished military members of his family.