Sir Augustine Nicolls or Nicholls (1559–1616) was an English

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Life

Nicolls was born at Ecton,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, in April 1559. He was the second son of Thomas Nicholls, serjeant-at-law, by Anne, daughter of John Pell of Ellington, Huntingdonshire. The Wardour Abbey manor in Ecton had been in the family for three generations, having been purchased by Augustine's grandfather, William Nicolls or Nicoll, of Hardwicke, Northamptonshire, who died in 1575. Nicolls trained in the

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

, and became reader at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in the autumn of 1602. On 11 February 1603 Elizabeth I summoned him to become serjeant-at-law by taking the degree of the coif; but she died before the

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

was returnable, and it had to be renewed by James I. Nicolls was sworn on 17 May following. On 14 December 1603 Nicolls was made

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. In 1610 Nicolls was attached as serjeant to the household of

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King James VI and I and Anne of Denmark, Queen Anne. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; and Fr ...

. On 11 June 1610 he, in addition to the Northamptonshire manors of Broughton and Faxton which he had purchased, received a grant in

fee simple In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., pe ...

of the manor of Kibworth-Beauchamp, Leicestershire. On 26 November 1612 he was appointed

justice of common pleas Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas ...

, and was knighted at the same time. Three years later his patent was renewed on his appointment as chancellor to

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

Nicolls died unexpectedly on 3 August 1616 while on circuit; the cause has been given as a "surfeit",Prest, W. (2004-09-23)
Nicolls, Sir Augustine (1559–1616), judge
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 5 Mar. 2018. Subscription or UK public library membership required) or the "new ague". He died in

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

, and there is a monument to his memory in

Kendal Parish Church Kendal Parish Church, also known as the Holy Trinity Church due to its dedication to the Holy Trinity, is the Anglican parish church of Kendal, Cumbria, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade&nb ...

. His

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, in black marble and alabaster, was in Faxton Church, Northamptonshire, but in 1958 the church was demolished; the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

accepted the monument in 1965. The museum attributes the monument to the sculptor

Nicholas Stone Nicholas Stone (1586/87 – 24 August 1647) was an England, English sculpture, sculptor and architect. In 1619 he was appointed master-mason to James I of England, James I, and in 1626 to Charles I of England, Charles I. During his ca ...

Robert Bolton Robert Bolton may refer to: * Robert Bolton (clergyman, born 1572) (1572–1631), English clergyman, academic and preacher * Robert Bolton (dean of Carlisle) (1697–1763), English churchman * Bertie Bolton (Robert Henry Dundas Bolton, 1893–1964), ...

, whom Nicolls had presented to the living of Broughton, testified to his not accepting bribes.

Family

Nicolls married Mary Hemings of London, widow of Edward Bagshawe; they had no children together. The manor of Faxton passed to his nephew

Sir Francis Nicolls, 1st Baronet Sir Francis Nicolls, 1st Baronet (sometimes spelt Nichols) (1586 – 4 March 1642) was an English Member of Parliament. He was also the first of the Nicolls baronets. He was born the eldest son of Francis Nichols of Hardwick, Northamptonshire ...

, son of Francis Nicholls, his elder brother and governor of

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a Tilbury Fort, 16th century fort ...

in 1588, by Anne, daughter of David Seymour. Sir Francis had married his stepdaughter, Mary Bagshawe. Judge Nicholls had a clerk working for him,

Thomas Dudley Thomas Dudley (12 October 157631 July 1653) was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the tow ...

, a relation of the Nicholls family. In 1627 Dudley, with his wife, daughter Anne, and her husband Simon Bradstreet, sailed for America. Dudley became Governor of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

as did Bradstreet later.

Anne Bradstreet Anne Bradstreet (née Dudley; March 8, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was among the most prominent of early English poets of North America and the first writer in England's North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan ...

became America's first female poet.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolls, Augustine 1559 births 1616 deaths English barristers 17th-century English judges Serjeants-at-law (England) People from Ecton, Northamptonshire Burials in Northamptonshire