WILLIAM M. NICHOLLS, 2LT, RA

William Nicholls '14

Date of birth: December 1, 1891

Date of death: September 26, 1915

Age: 23

Lucky Bag

From the 1914 Lucky Bag:

William Montague Nicholls

Spartanburg, South Carolina

"Nick" "Monty" "Long Jaw"

NICK is a care-free lad from the old Palmetto state, a good all round athlete, and is possessor of a jaw that sags heavily on his chest—jaw that would turn a pelican green with envy. If it were not for a happy expression and a smile which, altho one-sided, is wonderfully winning, one would almost be tempted to call him ugly. He has been trying ever since early childhood to use the port side of his face for talking and laughing purposes, but it's no use,—one cannot appreciate his facial expression from his left side,—only his eyes, which are so full of fun and genial good humor that they charm all who meet him. He just can't figure out why the girls all pester him to death. But "Where is my Nick?" "I want my Nick," and similar expressions heard at hops attest his popularity with the fairer sex. He can dance like a perfect dream, will keep you howling all the time and is pretty well practiced in the art of fussing, so why shouldn't the girls keep after him?

Among the athletes, Nick is known as the "Long Jawed Pony Express." Whatever his name, his team-mates have utmost faith in him and his opponents fear him. He is nothing short of marvelous when in football clothes and anyone who has tried to pick up quicksilver with his fingers will know what it is to try to tackle Nick in an open field. Plebe year he made his Baseball N but has since lost his swing; youngster year he fell into line with the N* gang and annexed one. Second class year was the only year he failed to make a letter and sickness was the cause. First class year will probably add two or three more N's to his stock. We hope so anyhow, for we feel better when he's on the team.

Boning is hard work for Nick, so he simply doesn't do it. This trait and an utter inability to throw a bluff cause him to stand low in his class. The only real boob stunt he ever tried was second class year, when he and Fats Mecum decided that Annapolis would look better if painted red. They dressed up in cits to do the stunt and were calmly caught before they had started a thing. Any other pair might have turned the trick, but Monty and Fats—help! Well, Nick, old boy, we think a lot of you. We'd all like to be like you, but then there can be only one Nick.

"Yes sir, yes sir. I'se had previous military training. I went to the same school as Mr. Freddie Bousson."

Hinder (2nd Co.); Bird (2nd Co.); Football N*(3); Baseball Squad (4,3); Baseball N (4); Basketball Squad (3, 2, 1); Welterweight Wrestling Championship (4); Welterweight Boxing Championship (4); Mid'n's Athletic Ass'n (2).

William Montague Nicholls

Spartanburg, South Carolina

"Nick" "Monty" "Long Jaw"

NICK is a care-free lad from the old Palmetto state, a good all round athlete, and is possessor of a jaw that sags heavily on his chest—jaw that would turn a pelican green with envy. If it were not for a happy expression and a smile which, altho one-sided, is wonderfully winning, one would almost be tempted to call him ugly. He has been trying ever since early childhood to use the port side of his face for talking and laughing purposes, but it's no use,—one cannot appreciate his facial expression from his left side,—only his eyes, which are so full of fun and genial good humor that they charm all who meet him. He just can't figure out why the girls all pester him to death. But "Where is my Nick?" "I want my Nick," and similar expressions heard at hops attest his popularity with the fairer sex. He can dance like a perfect dream, will keep you howling all the time and is pretty well practiced in the art of fussing, so why shouldn't the girls keep after him?

Among the athletes, Nick is known as the "Long Jawed Pony Express." Whatever his name, his team-mates have utmost faith in him and his opponents fear him. He is nothing short of marvelous when in football clothes and anyone who has tried to pick up quicksilver with his fingers will know what it is to try to tackle Nick in an open field. Plebe year he made his Baseball N but has since lost his swing; youngster year he fell into line with the N* gang and annexed one. Second class year was the only year he failed to make a letter and sickness was the cause. First class year will probably add two or three more N's to his stock. We hope so anyhow, for we feel better when he's on the team.

Boning is hard work for Nick, so he simply doesn't do it. This trait and an utter inability to throw a bluff cause him to stand low in his class. The only real boob stunt he ever tried was second class year, when he and Fats Mecum decided that Annapolis would look better if painted red. They dressed up in cits to do the stunt and were calmly caught before they had started a thing. Any other pair might have turned the trick, but Monty and Fats—help! Well, Nick, old boy, we think a lot of you. We'd all like to be like you, but then there can be only one Nick.

"Yes sir, yes sir. I'se had previous military training. I went to the same school as Mr. Freddie Bousson."

Hinder (2nd Co.); Bird (2nd Co.); Football N*(3); Baseball Squad (4,3); Baseball N (4); Basketball Squad (3, 2, 1); Welterweight Wrestling Championship (4); Welterweight Boxing Championship (4); Mid'n's Athletic Ass'n (2).

Loss

William was lost on September 26, 1915 during the Battle of Loos on the Western Front in France. He was a member of the 30th Battery, 43rd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

In the 1908 yearbook at Wofford College, William was listed as Montague Nicholls, a freshman. His father and brother Samuel took out ads in several yearbooks. His brother George also attended Wofford. Their sisters were Lottie Lu and Kate, who married Thomas Samuel Perrin in June 1917.
William played right halfback, quarterback, and punter for the Naval Academy team.
From The Washington Times, November 11, 1913:

Both Nicholls and Mitchell Look Good for Quarterback, With Little to Choose.
Annapolis, Md., Nov. 11. – The excellent work of both Nicholls and Mitchell in Saturday’s game against Bucknell has given the Naval Academy coaches a hard nut to crack relative to the claims of each for the quarterback position. Though Nicolls far excels his competitor in brilliant dodging and running, Mitchell has played a fine game during the year and has shown steady improvement. . . .
The showing of Nicholls in the two games he has played has been phenomenal. Playing not over ten minutes in the Lehigh game, he attracted attention by several fine runs, but it remained for Nicholls to establish himself as one of the greatest ground-gainers the Navy ever had by his work against Bucknell. In all Nicholls ran about 200 yards, though in the game less than half of the time.
Two years ago Nicholls was the regular halfback of the team, and last year was shifted to quarter, but was nosed out at the last when Captain Rodes was shifted to that position. Owing to an old injury Nicholls did not start to play until the present season was half over, but he is doing by far the best work of his whole career.

At the Navy vs. New York University game on November, 22, 1913, Navy won 48-0. William was quarterback, and he ran 95 yards for a touchdown when he received the initial kickoff.
From The Washington Post, December 2, 1913:

HEARTLESS COUP SEEN
Navy Star Told Father was Ill Just Before Game.
Telegraph brings message
Suspected at Annapolis That Sender of Dispatch Hoped to Unnerve Quarterback Nicholls, to Whom It Was Addressed, and an Investigation Is in Progress – Garrison Praises Teams.
Special to The Washington Post.
Annapolis, Md., Dec. 1 – Naval Academy authorities are investigating an incident which took place in the Army and Navy football game on Saturday, which, if deliberate, probably exceeded in heartlessness anything in football.
It was not generally known even among naval people that just before the game started Nicholls, the quarterback of the Navy team, was handed a telegram which purported to convey the message that his father was desperately ill, and the request that he start for home immediately.
While it may develop that the message was not intended for Midshipman Nicholls, it is believed here that it was the work of some gambler who had taken the short end of the odds by betting on the Army.
Gives Wrong Initials.
The initials in the directions of the telegram were not those of Midshipman Nicholls, and it was signed with a feminine name that did not connect with any of his relatives. Besides, it was dated Baltimore, while the family of Nicholls live in Spartanburg, S. C. It was, therefore, discredited, but Nicholls could not help feeling some anxiety until it was proved that his father was in good health.
If the telegram was the result of a plot Nicholls would naturally have been selected, as upon him developed the running of the team and selections of plays.
Judge Nicholls Not Ill.
Spartanburg, S. C., Dec. 1. – Judge George W. Nicholls, of this city, father of Montague Nicholls, is in good health, and was in good health on Saturday when his son in New York received a telegram announcing his serious illness.
Early in the evening Mrs. Nicholls received a telegram from her son, inquiring about his father’s illness. Judge Nicholls said tonight that he knew nothing of the message sent to his son, but that he suspected it was originated by some one who had bet on the army team and hoped to unnerve the navy quarterback, and thus weaken his work in the game.
[Navy did lose the game 22-9, and the message later was found to have been for the wife of Lieutenant Newton L. Nicholls.]

From the Greenville News, South Carolina, April 17, 1914:

Montague Nicholls will study law
Spartanburg, April 16. – Montague Nicholls, son of Judge and Mrs. Geo. Nicholls, has resigned his commission at the United States Naval academy, and has arrived in the city to spend several days with his parents before he takes up the study of law. Mr. Nicholls would have graduated from the naval school in June, but because of a change in his plans, it became necessary to resign his commission before he received his diploma. According to the rule at the naval school, Mr. Nicholls would have had to serve four years in the United States navy upon his graduation.
Mr. Nicholls intends to take a law course, and later to practice his profession in Spartanburg, where his father and brother, S. J. Nicholls, are now located.

From the Gaffney Ledger, South Carolina, August 25, 1914:

Montague Nicholls is Fined by Recorder
Fight Over Politics with Pool Room Proprietor.
Spartanburg, August 21. – W. Montague Nicholls, quarterback and star of the football team of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis last year, was fined $10 by Mayor Jno. F. Floyd in police court today for attacking Robert A. Blackwood, proprietor of a billiard room, yesterday afternoon. Blackwood was also tried but acquitted.
Nicholls accused Blackwood of making slanderous and untrue statements about him and his brother, Samuel J. Nicholls, candidate for the National House of Representatives from this district. Blackwood’s brother, I. C. Blackwood, was given an excellent position in the federal treasury department through the influence of Mr. Nicholl’s principal, Representative J. T. Johnson.
“Monty” Nicholls said “Bod” Blackwood had been circulating the report that “Monty” was playing baseball in Spartanburg cotton mill teams this summer for political purposes, and he also said, it was understood, that Blackwood was charging “Sam” Nicholls with ingratitude for opposing the man who had appointed his brother to the naval academy.
Young Nicholls struck Blackwood several heavy blows, knocking him down and disfiguring his face. Blackwood, in self defense, slashed Nicholls with a penknife but inflicted only slight injury.
Nicholls pleaded guilty when arraigned today on a charge of disorderly conduct. He paid the fine without protest.

In September 1914, William applied for a passport. He was 5’ 10” tall, brown eyes, long nose, firm chin, brown hair, and a fair complexion.
From the Gaffney Ledger, May 5, 1921:

Spartanburg, April 30. – Judge W. Nicholls, of this city, has received from King George of England, a beautiful bronze table presented by the royal family of England in grateful recognition of the valiant service rendered by Lieut. William Montague Nicholls, son of Judge Nicholls, who had laid down his life in his majesty’s service on the battlefields of France. Accompanying the bronze table is a letter from King George, which contains the following:   “I join with my grateful people in sending you this memorial of a brave life given for others in the great war."
(Signed) “GEORGE R. I.”
The bronze tablet is beautifully designed and bears the inscription:
“He died for freedom and honor.” The tablet also bears the name, “William Montague Nicholls.” Engraved on the bronze is the figure of a lovely woman, arm extended, a laurel wreath held in her hand. This memorial has elicited much admiration from those who have been privileged to see it.

From The Citadel Memorial:

Lt. Nicholls received an appointment to Annapolis during his sophomore year at The Citadel and entered the United States Naval Academy as a member of the class of 1914 at the start of the academic year 1910-1911. He left the USNA six weeks before graduation to read law at his father’s law firm. [There is no reason given for his resignation, effective April 8, 1914.]
Panel 13 in the stained glass facade window of The Citadel’s Summerall Chapel memorializes Lt. Nicholls. In the panel is the young David rescuing the lamb from the wild beast (I Samuel 17:34-35. WILLIAM MONTAGUE NICHOLLS, ex-cadet, 1912.) While visiting England in 1914, Mr. Nicholls joined the British Army, was promoted to lieutenant and was killed at the Battle of The Somme.

From The Citadel Memorial:

LIEUT. NICHOLLS MEETS DEATH IN BATTLE IN FRANCE
Spartanburg Boy, Fighting Under British Flag, Killed in Action September 26th-27th.
MAY BRING REMAINS HERE FOR INTERMENT
Last Letter From Young Officer, Dated Sept. 13, Received Here Tuesday
W. Montage Nicholls, second lieutenant in the royal field artillery of the British army and a son of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Nicholls, of this city, was killed in battle the 26th or 27th of September, according to a cable received yesterday morning by his father from the British war office in London.
Lieutenant Nicholls had been in service with the British army for about a year. Practically all of his active service on the battle front was in France, where he was sent with his corps during February of this year. He was wounded in the fighting around Neuve-Chapelle on March 21, but was sent back to the front in France about the first of last July, since which time he had been actively engaged. While no details are known here, it is believed that he fell during the fighting in the region around Hulluch and Loos.
The cable announcing the death reads as follows:
“Deeply regret to inform you that Second Lieut. W. M. Nicholls, R. F. A., was killed in action between 26 – 27 September. Lord Kitchener expresses sympathy.”
May Bring Body Here.
Shortly after the receipt of this message, Congressman-elect Sam J. Nicholls, brother of the fallen soldier, sent a cable to the British was office asking for fuller information and asking also if arrangements might be made to have the body shipped here for interment. Friends of the family, it is understood, have also wired the United States secretary of state asking assistance in this undertaking.
The sad news traveled rapidly through the city and county and members of the family were the recipients of many messages of sympathy which poured in from all parts of this section of the state during the afternoon and night.
It is probably that within a few days some further information will be received from the British war authorities relative to the death of Lieutenant Nicholls. No additional facts, of course, had been received up to last night.
Montague Nicholls was born in Spartanburg December 1, 1891, and hence was nearly 24 years of age. He graduated with first honors at the city high school, winning the scholarship to Wofford college. He attended Wofford one year and then went to The Citadel at Charleston. During his second year at The Citadel he won his appointment to the naval academy at Annapolis, Md.
His career at the naval academy was featured by his athletic record and his interest in the sports. He won the welterweight championship in both boxing and wrestling. He made both the football and the baseball team, starring as quarterback on the football team and making a fine record as right fielder on the baseball team.
Young Nicholls resigned from the academy in April, 1914, about six weeks before his graduation. He did this, it is understood, because he did not desire to enter the navy, and letters testifying to his good standing were issued to him.
He then came to Spartanburg and began to read law in the office of his father. He continued this until war was declared in Europe, when he decided he would enlist and go to the front with the British troops.
Leaves to Enter War.
With this purpose in mind, young Nicholls left Spartanburg on September 1, 1914, and went to Toronto, Canada with the idea of enlisting in the British navy. He was rejected by the recruiting officer, however, for the reason that he was from a neutral country. Not discouraged, he returned to New York and a few days later sailed for Europe, where he made further efforts to enlist. One the first attempt, he was rejected again for the same reason that had turned him down in Canada. He wrote his parents about this time that he intended to go to Paris to try to enter the foreign legion, but he did not make this trip.
Instead, he found that he was able to join a volunteer regiment, formed by a number of wealthy Americans and Englishmen. His knowledge of the science of war was quickly recognized, and he later was able to join Lord Kitchener’s expeditionary forces, and was later commissioned as second lieutenant of the Royal Field artillery. It is understood here that in order to receive this commission Mr. Nicholls was obliged to take the oath of allegiance to the British flag.
Wounded in March.
After receiving his commission, he was sent to Glasgow, Scotland, where he remained for several weeks in a training camp assisting in training the troops. His battery was sent to the battlefront in France on the 22nd of February, and soon after, Lieutenant Nicholls was assigned to a battery on the front having charge of six three-inch guns. During the fighting on the first of March, he received flesh wounds in both thighs, and shortly after was transferred to a hospital in Folkestone, England. He remained at Folkestone for about six or eight weeks, and then, having fully recovered, was assigned to duty in another section of England in drilling recruits.
About the first of July Lieutenant Nicholls was sent back to France to resume his duties at the front. He was placed in charge, and was in active service until his death.
Last Letter Came Tuesday.
The last letter received by the family from the young man was dated September 13, though it was not received here until Tuesday of this week. The letters from the soldiers on the front are all read by censors before they are transmitted, and statements relative to the fighting operations are very carefully scanned before they are passed. Hence the last letter contains practically no information of the fighting operations and is confined principally to personal topics.
In this letter the young soldier expressed his continued enthusiasm for the war, and his intention to stay until it was over. He intimated that after the war he would remain in the service and would probably be assigned to duty in India. The letter shows that the young man was with the Forty-third brigade, Thirtieth battery, R. F. A.
The letter referred, in a humorous way, to the war as being his third choice for a profession and expressed the hope that he would find it satisfactory. Members of the family interpret this to mean that he had tried the naval service and the profession of law and had not found in them the satisfaction of his aspirations.
Wanted Buckwheats and Syrup.
A touching feature of the letter was the young officer’s request for a shipment of buckwheat cakes and maple syrup. It appears from the letter that it had fallen to his lot to provide a variation from the routine of the officer’s mess, and he had decided upon this as a treat for his comrades. He stated that no package weighing more than 11 pounds would be allowed to pass through, though there was no limit to the number of packages.
Montague Nicholls is well remembered by Spartanburg people and his death in arms for a foreign yet closely related country brought sadness to hundreds of people of this vicinity who knew him as a boy and as a young man. Young Nicholls is survived by his father and mother, one brother, Congressman elect. Sam J. Nicholls, and two sister, Misses Kate and Lottie Led Nicholls.
The Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., Friday Morning, October 1, 1915, p.1

From History of Co. F, 118th Infantry (Hampton Guards), 30th Division:

William Montague Nicholls, son of Judge George W. and Mrs. Minnie L. Nicholls, in that fine spirit of crusade and adventure for the right, characteristic of the spirit of his family and forbears, was a shining sacrifice in the great world war nearly two years prior to the time his country entered in the struggle.
During his boyhood, which was spent in Spartanburg, S. C., he was intensely interested in military affairs, and was a private in the Hampton Guards. As a member of this unit, although very young at the time, he attended the military maneuvers at the National Chickamauga Park, at the time his brother, Congressman Samuel J. Nicholls, was its captain. He attended the sessions of the South Carolina Military Academy, Charleston, S. C., and later won the scholarship from this congressional district to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., where he practically completed his four-year course. Then, deciding to engage in the practice of law, he resigned just prior to the finals of the Academy, returning to his home city. Shortly thereafter, and at the time when the Germans were so heavily pressing the armies of France and England, he set sail for England. On arriving there, he volunteered in the British Army. He was assigned to the Royal Field Artillery, with the rank of second lieutenant. He was wounded at the battle of La Chappelle, France, on March 23rd, 1915. He was killed on the front line in the bloody battle of Loos on September 26th, 1915. Along with the other fallen, he was buried in the night time—
"No useless coffin enclosed his breast,
Nor in sheet, nor in shroud they wound him;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest,
With his martial cloak around him."
Brave, generous, impetuous, intrepid, lofty soul—he typified to the highest degree the finest traditions of the Hampton Guards.

William has a page in the 1916 Lucky Bag. "In Memory of William Montague Nicholls, Lieutenant Royal Field Artillery, Class of 1914, Killed In Action September 26, 1915."

He is buried in South Carolina.