John Bowyer Nichols

John Bowyer Nichols
Born	(1779-07-15)15 July 1779 Fleet Street,London
Died	19 October 1863(1863-10-19)(aged 84) Ealing,West London
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Printer, antiquary
Spouse	Eliza Baker ​ ​ (m.1805; died 1846)​

John Bowyer Nichols(15 July 1779 – 19 October 1863) was an English printer and antiquary.

Life

Nichols was born at Red Lion Passage,Fleet Street,London, on 15 July 1779. He was the eldest son ofJohn Nichols,by his second wife, Martha Green (1756–1788).

He spent his early years with his maternal grandfather atHinckley, Leicestershire,and was educated atSt Paul's School, London,which he left in September 1796 to enter his father's printing office.

Career

He had a part in the editorship of theGentleman's Magazine,and contributed under the initials J. B. N., or N. R. S. (the final letters of his name). He became the sole proprietor of the magazine in 1833, and in the following year transferred a share toWilliam PickeringofPiccadilly.This share he subsequently repurchased, and in 1856 conveyed the whole property toJohn Henry Parkerof Oxford.

The printing firm became J. Nichols, Son, & Bentley, with an office at the Cicero's Head, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, as well as at 25 Parliament Street, Westminster. Nichols had become one of the printers of the votes and proceedings of the Houses of Parliament, an appointment in which he followed his father andWilliam Bowyer(1699–1777). For a short time he was printer to the corporation of the city of London. In 1821, after the resignation of his father, he became one of the three registrars of theRoyal Literary Fund.He was master of the Stationers' Company in 1850, having served all the annual offices.

Towards the end of his life he became blind. He was a fellow of theLinnean Society(1812) and of theSociety of Antiquaries of London(1818), and was appointed their printer in 1824; he was an original member of theAthenæum Club,theRoyal Archaeological Institute,theNumismatic Society,and theRoyal Society of Literature.He also filled various public offices in Westminster.

Works

He superintended the passing through the press of majorcounty histories.These includedGeorge Ormerod'sCheshire,Robert Clutterbuck'sHertfordshire,Robert Surtees'sDurham,James Raine'sNorth Durham,Colt Hoare'sWiltshire,Joseph Hunter'sSouth Yorkshire,George Baker'sNorthamptonshire,Thomas Dunham Whitaker'sWhalleyandCraven,andGeorge Lipscomb'sBuckinghamshire.He left large printed and manuscript collections on English topography. His last literary undertaking was the completion (vol. vii. in 1848 and vol. viii. in 1856) of his father'sIllustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century,the sequel to theLiterary Anecdotes.William Brayrefers to the accuracy of Nichols in revising the proof-sheets of the second volume of his edition ofOwen Manning'sHistory of Surrey.Nichols circulated proposals in 1811 for printing the third and fourth volumes ofJohn Hutchins'sDorset,of which the stock of the first three volumes had been lost in the fire on his father's premises in 1808. The fourth volume appeared in 1815, with his name on the title-page jointly with that ofRichard Gough.In 1818 he published the autobiography of the booksellerJohn Dunton,which had furnished materials for theLiterary Anecdotesof his father.

Personal life

He married, in 1805, Eliza Baker (d. 1846), by whom he had fourteen children; of these there survived three sons:John Gough Nichols,Robert Cradock Nichols (d. 1892), and Francis Morgan Nichols (b. 1826); and four daughters. The poet and artistBowyer Nicholswas his great-grandson.

He died at Ealing on 19 October 1863, aged 84, and was buried atKensal Green cemetery.

Legacy

There are portraits of Nichols by J. Jackson, in watercolour, about 1818; by F. Hopwood, in pencil, 1821; by John Wood, in oil, 1836; and by Samuel Laurence, in chalks, 1850. The last was lithographed by J. H. Lynch. W. Behnes exhibited a bust of him at the Royal Academy in 1858.

Other works

• A brief Account of the Guildhall of the City of London,London, 1819.
• Account of the Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine, near the Tower,London, 1824,(based on the history ofAndrew Ducarel,1782, with additional plates).
• Historical Notices of Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire,London, 1836, (based on the publications of J. Britton and J. Rutter, with plates from the work of Rutter).
• Catalogue of the Hoare Library at Stourhead, co. Wilts, with an Account of the Museum of British Antiquities,privately printed, London, 1840. "Notices of the Library at Stourhead" were contributed by Nichols to theWiltshire and Natural History Magazine,1855, vol. 2.

Nichols also edited:

• Joseph Cradock'sMemoirs,vols. iii. and iv. 1828;
• Anecdotes of William Hogarth,1833, with forty-eight plates, a compilation from his father's ‘Biographical Anecdotes of Mr. Hogarth’;
• John Thomas Smith,Cries of London,1839; and
• History and Antiquities of the Abbey of St. Edmunds BurybyRichard Yates,second edition, London, 1843, 2 parts.

References

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Lee, Sidney,ed. (1895). "Nichols, John Bowyer".Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 41. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

• John Bowyer Nichols (1779-1863), Printer and antiquaryat theNational Portrait Gallery, London