Basil Ellard Nicholson (1 January 1913 – 20 August 1985) was an English international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. Born in

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

, London, Nicholson was one of six siblings and attended

Whitgift School Whitgift School is an independent day school with limited boarding in South Croydon, London. Along with Trinity School of John Whitgift and Old Palace School it is owned by the Whitgift Foundation, a charitable trust. The school was prev ...

, where he made the 1st XV aged 14, then after leaving turned out for Old Whitgiftians. He later studied engineering at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

. Nicholson, a fast and elusive centre, was a regular in the Surrey county sides of the 1930s. While playing with Harlequins in 1938, Nicholson got called up by

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for their Home Nations campaign, gaining caps in away matches against Wales and Ireland. He also made the British Lions squad for the 1938 tour of South Africa and appeared in the second of the three Test fixtures, against the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

in Port Elizabeth. A leg injury picked up during the match ruled him out of the final Test, which he had been expected to feature in as a wing three-quarter.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Basil 1913 births 1985 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union players from the London Borough of Lewisham Rugby union centres British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England People educated at Whitgift School Harlequin F.C. players Surrey RFU players 20th-century English sportsmen

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