Nicholson, JOHN, a distinguished Indian soldier, was born at Lisburn, 11th December 1822. In 1838 he joined the East India Company's service, and in 1840 his regiment was ordered to Ghazni in Afghanistan (q.v.), where, two years later, it was compelled to surrender to the enemy. After a time of miserable captivity he regained his liberty. On the breaking out of the Sikh war in 1845 he served in the campaign on the Sutlej, and was present at the battle of Ferozeshah. He was now appointed assistant to the resident at the conquered capital, Lahore. During the Sikh rebellion of 1848 he greatly distinguished himself, the preservation of the important fortress of Attock being due to his daring and promptitude, whilst soon after, at the Margulla Pass, he succeeded in intercepting and defeating a large body of the insurgents. At the battles of Chillianwalla and Gujrat successively he earned the special approval of Lord Gough, to whom he was immediately attached. The Punjab having finally become a British province, Captain Nicholson was appointed a deputy-commissioner under the Lahore Board. His success in bringing the savage tribes under thorough subjection to law and order was something marvellous.
In the mutiny in 1857 Nicholson perhaps did more than any other single man to hold firm the British grasp of the Punjab. He it was who suggested the formation of the famous movable column, and he presided over its organisation; while in his dealings with the suspected regiments of sepoys he exhibited throughout a brilliant combination of boldness with subtlety, discretion, and astuteness. At Trimmoo Ghaut on the 12th and 14th July he nearly annihilated a force of rebels, and at Najafgarh on the 24th he dispersed another body of mutineers. As brigadier-general, on September 14 he led the first column of attack at the siege of Delhi, and after the troops had forced their way into the city he still exposed himself in the most fearless manner, and fell, shot through the body. He died on 23d September 1857. Over the whole of India it was felt that, to use Lord Canning's expression, 'a tower of strength' had fallen.
See Kaye's Lives of Indian Officers (2 vols. 1867; new ed. 1889); R. Bosworth Smith's Life of Lord Lawrence; and Edwards and Merivale, Life of Sir J. Lawrence.