{{short description|British politician (1862-1942)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = {{nowrap|William Graham Nicholson}} | honorific_suffix = JP DL | image = William_Graham_Nicholson.jpg | caption = Nicholson | office = Member of Parliament for Petersfield | term_start = 1897 | term_end = 1935 | alongside = | predecessor = William Wickham | successor = Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1862|3|11}} | birth_place = {{nowrap|Hampshire, England}} | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1942|7|29|1862|3|11}} | death_place = | resting_place = | education = Harrow School | alma_mater = Trinity College, Cambridge | parents = William Nicholson<br>Isabella Sarah Meek | spouse = {{marriage|Alice Margaret Beach<br>|1890||reason=}} | children = | party = Liberal Unionist | relatives = John Sanctuary Nicholson (brother) }}

'''William Graham Nicholson''', PC JP DL (11 March 1862 – 29 July 1942)<ref name="rayment">{{rayment-hc|p|1|date=March 2012}}</ref> was a British Liberal Unionist and later Conservative Party politician.

==Early life== Nicholson was born on 11 March 1862 and grew up in Basing Park at Froxfield, which later became his seat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.simonknott.co.uk/tommuckley/044privett.htm|title=PRIVETT AND THE NICHOLSONS|publisher=Simon Knott.co.uk|accessdate=19 February 2012}}</ref> He was born into a famous family of distillers, the son of William Nicholson and brother of John Sanctuary Nicholson, a notable military figure in Imperial Africa. Through his brother, Richard Francis Harrison, he was uncle to Sir Godfrey Nicholson, 1st Baronet.<ref name="WillsBarrett1905">{{cite book|last1=Wills|first1=Walter H.|last2=Barrett|first2=R. J.|title=The Anglo-African who's who and biographical sketch-book|url=https://archive.org/details/angloafricanwho00barrgoog|accessdate=19 February 2012|year=1905|publisher=George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.|page=[https://archive.org/details/angloafricanwho00barrgoog/page/n139 121]}}</ref>

He was educated at Harrow School and at Trinity College, Cambridge.<ref>{{acad|id=NCL881WG|name=Nicholson, William Graham}}</ref>

==Career== Nicholson served as Director-General on Mobilisation in the Second Anglo-Boer War from 30 June 1901 and was promoted an Honorary Colonel commanding the 3rd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment.

After the death of the Conservative MP William Wickham, he was elected at a by-election in June 1897 as the Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for Petersfield in Hampshire,<ref name="craig1885-1918">{{cite book |last=Craig |first=F. W. S. |authorlink= F. W. S. Craig |title=British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 |orig-date=1974 |edition= 2nd |year=1989 |publisher= Parliamentary Research Services |location=Chichester |isbn= 0-900178-27-2 |page=292}}</ref> a seat which had previously been held by his father. Nicholson sat as a Conservative after the Liberal Unionists and Conservatives merged in 1912, and held the seat until his retirement at the 1935 general election.<ref name="craig1918-1949">{{cite book |last=Craig |first=F. W. S. |authorlink= F. W. S. Craig |title=British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 |orig-date=1969 |edition=3rd |year=1983 |publisher= Parliamentary Research Services |location=Chichester |isbn= 0-900178-06-X |page=367}}</ref>

He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1925. He was an alderman of Hampshire County Council, a Justice of the Peace, and a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire.<ref name="debrett-1922">{{cite book |last=Hesilridge |first=Arthur G. M. |title=Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1922 |url=https://archive.org/stream/debrettshouseo1922londuoft#page/120/mode/1up |year=1922 |publisher=Dean & Son |location=London |page=120}}</ref>

In his spare time he was a keen horticulturalist.<ref name="Gardeners' chronicle, horticultural trade journal">{{cite book|title=Gardeners' chronicle, horticultural trade journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_fBEAQAAIAAJ|year=1932|publisher=Haymarket Publishing|page=16}}</ref>

==Personal life== In 1890 he married Alice Margaret "Sissy" Beach, daughter of William Wither Bramston Beach MP.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianmilitarysociety.org.uk/downloads/sotq123_02.pdf|title=The Second Anglo-Boer War Military Intelligence|publisher=The Victorian military Society|accessdate=19 February 2012}}</ref> Together, they were the parents of:

* Otho William Nicholson (1891–1978),<ref>{{cite web |title=Otho William Nicholson (1891-1978), Politician and Mayor of Finsbury, London |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp141807/otho-william-nicholson |website=www.npg.org.uk |publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London |access-date=17 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> who married Elisabeth Bramwell, a daughter of Frederick C. Bramwell, in 1927.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Nicholson (née Bramwell) |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp141810/elisabeth-nicholson-nee-bramwell |website=www.npg.org.uk |publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London |access-date=17 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> * Lt.-Col. John Humphrey Nicholson (b. 1893), who married Elizabeth Anne Floyd, a daughter of Sir Henry Floyd, 4th Baronet and Edith Anne Kincaid-Smith, in 1929.<ref name="Debrett's1931">{{cite book |title=Debrett's Illustrated Baronetage, with the Knightage, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1931 |publisher=Dean & Son, limited |page=305 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTcaAQAAMAAJ |access-date=17 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

He resided under a lease for some time at Bentworth Hall, although Basing Park was his main residence.<ref name="CookRamsden1997">{{cite book|last1=Cook|first1=Chris|last2=Ramsden|first2=John|title=By-elections in British politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQGAXGB4GLkC&pg=PA45|date=1997|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-1-85728-535-2|page=45}}</ref><ref name="Eggar">{{cite book|last=Eggar|first=J. Alfred|title=Remembrances of life and customs in Gilbert White's, Cobbett's & Charles Kingsley's country|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbAxAQAAIAAJ|year=1989|publisher=Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent|page=188}}</ref><ref name="Griffith1947">{{cite book|last=Griffith|first=Edward C.|title=The Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway, 1901-1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxkwAAAAIAAJ|year=1947|publisher=Langham|page=4}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | colonel-william-nicholson | William Nicholson }}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef| before = William Wickham }} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Petersfield | years = 1897 – 1935 }} {{s-aft| after = Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith }} {{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, William Graham}} Category:1862 births Category:1942 deaths Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Deputy lieutenants of Hampshire Category:Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies Category:Members of Hampshire County Council Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:People educated at Harrow School Category:People from Petersfield Category:Military personnel from Hampshire Category:Royal Hampshire Regiment officers Category:UK MPs 1895–1900 Category:UK MPs 1900–1906 Category:UK MPs 1906–1910 Category:UK MPs 1910 Category:UK MPs 1910–1918 Category:UK MPs 1918–1922 Category:UK MPs 1922–1923 Category:UK MPs 1923–1924 Category:UK MPs 1924–1929 Category:UK MPs 1929–1931 Category:UK MPs 1931–1935