AdmiralSir Douglas Romilly Lothian Nicholson, KCMG, KCVO (4 March 1867 – 8 February 1946) was a senior Royal Navy officer who commanded the Reserve Fleet.
Naval career
Born the son of Sir Lothian Nicholson, a former Governor of Gibraltar, and Mary Romilly, Nicholson served in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882.[1] He was appointed in command of the destroyerHMS Spiteful on 11 January 1901,[2] as she was serving in home waters, and was in charge when she ran aground near the Isle of Wight the following month and during a collision with sister ship HMS Peterel in October. After a year with the Spiteful, he was appointed in command of HMS Dove on 24 February 1902,[3] serving in the Channel Fleet as part of the Portsmouth instructional flotilla. In May 1902, the ship hit a rock off Kildorney, and had to be towed by her sister ship HMS Bullfinch to Queenstown,[4] and later back to Portsmouth for repairs.[5] Douglas and the crew transferred to the recently completed torpedo boat destroyerHMS Success, which was commissioned at Portsmouth on 9 June.[6] The following day, the navy held a court-martial where he was tried for negligence during the Kildorney incident. He was acquitted of negligence, but severely reprimanded for being in error of judgment.[7]
In December 1902, Nicholson was appointed to the seagoing training ship HMS Northampton, to serve in command of HMS Calliope, tender to the larger Northampton.[8]