A Collection of Medals formed by the Reverend Canon Nigel Nicholson, OStJ, DL

Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, Vittoria (A. Nicholson, Lieut. 2nd Life Gds.) minor edge nicks, otherwise extremely fine £1,600-£2,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals formed by the Reverend Canon Nigel Nicholson, OStJ, DL.

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Provenance: Payne Collection 1910; Buckland Dix & Wood, May 1992. Only 7 M.G.S. medals to officers in the 2nd Life Guards. This officer’s Waterloo medal (named McInnes) is in a private collection.

Alexander Nicholson was born Alexander McInnes, son of Thomas Mclnnes of Edinburgh, by Jane Nicholson, sister to Lieutenant-General Robert Nicholson who distinguished himself at the siege of Baroach in the East Indies. McInnes was commissioned Lieutenant in the 2nd Life Guards on 8 March 1810, and was promoted to Captain on 1 March 1813. He served in the Peninsula from November 1812 to July 1813 and was present at the Battle of Vittoria on 21 June 1813. He retired in 1814 but accepted a new commission as Cornet and Sub-Lieutenant in the 2nd Life Guards on 16 June 1814, and was present with the regiment in the Netherlands when brigaded with the Royal Horse Guards and the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards to form the 1st Cavalry or Household Brigade, under Major General Lord Edward Somerset. At Waterloo he took part in Uxbridge’s charge against d’Erlon’s corps that cost 17 killed and 41 wounded.

McInnes assumed the name and arms of Nicholson by Royal Licence in 1821. He married Cecilia Innes, eldest daughter and co-heir of Peter Innes of Fracafield, in Shetland. She died in 1842.

In an account of the battle written in 1834, McInnes recalled ‘...After this we again formed on our original ground (behind the Brussels road opposite Mont St. Jean) but whether in squadrons or one line I cannot now remember. We remained here until the Grand Advance of the line about 7 o’clock in the evening...’ Thereafter the 2nd Life Guards entered Paris on 7 July and remained in France until 17 January 1816 whence they embarked at Boulogne for England. They were back in London by 8 February 1816.

In the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research Volume 47, 1969, there appeared an article on the above officer by Major A. McK. Annand, together with this illustration of the striking 1821 portrait of Captain Alexander McInnes [Nicholson], 2nd Life Guards, wearing his Waterloo medal, by Ramsay Richard Reinagle (1775-1862).

In the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1862 occurs the following notice:-

‘Feb. 9th - In the Charterhouse, aged 82, Alexander Nicholson, Esq., formerly Captain 2nd Life Guards, late of East Court, Charlton King’s, near Cheltenham, and of Ufford, Suffolk. Descended from an old family long settled at Loan End, near Norham, co. Durham.’