# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicoll, Anthony

​NICOLL or NICOLLS, ANTHONY (1611–1659), parliamentarian, born at St. Tudy, Cornwall, 14 Nov. 1611, was eldest son of Humphry Nicoll of Penvose, in that parish (born in 1577, sat in parliament for the borough of Bodmin, Cornwall, March 1627–8 to March 1628–9, and buried at St. Tudy 31 March 1642), who married at St. Dominick in the same county, in May 1604, Philipp or Philippa, daughter of Sir Anthony Rous, knt. He was also connected with the great Cornish families of Cavell, Lower, Mohun, and Roscarrock, and, through his mother, he was a nephew of John Pym (Bibl. Cornub. ii. 595). He was returned for the Cornish borough of Bossiney in the parliament which lasted from 13 April to 5 May 1640, and in the Long parliament of the same year he sat for Bodmin. This return was disputed by Sir John Bramston, and Nicoll was declared by the committee of election to have been unduly returned; but, through Pym's influence, this decision was never reported to the house itself. In after years the improper retention of the seat was often brought up against him. He acted for the most part with Denzil Holles [q. v.] and the presbyterian members, and was often appointed on conferences and committees.
After the defeat of the parliamentary forces at Stamford Hill, near Stratton, Cornwall, on 16 May 1643, complaint was made by their commander, the Earl of Stamford, that Nicoll's action in withdrawing the cavalry had contributed to the disaster. A joint committee of both houses was appointed to inquire into the matter, but no result was reached. On 1 May 1647 he was nominated a member of the body for regulating the university of Oxford. Later in the same year the army made specific charges against eleven presbyterian members, of whom Nicoll was one; but for a time, owing to the withdrawal of the independent representatives, his friends were victorious. The special charges against him alleged that he had remained in parliament for many years although the seat had been declared void by the committee of privileges, that he had influenced the election of members in the west, and that he had received rewards. These accusations he denied; but he admitted that he had continued in the office of master of the armoury in the Tower, and had lost the lucrative position of ‘Customer of Plymouth and of the Cornish ports.’ When the army entered London (6 Aug. 1647) the cause of the independents triumphed, and Nicoll was ordered into restraint. He had procured a pass from the speaker to go into Cornwall, but could not obtain one from Fairfax. On the way to his own county he was stopped by some troopers, and carried on 16 Aug. to headquarters at Kingston. Next day he was brought before that general, and on 18 Aug. a letter from him was read in the House of Commons. Fairfax was communicated with, and, after debate, it was ordered that Nicoll should remain in custody. When it came out on the same day that Nicoll had escaped, the ports were stopped against him, and the speaker's pass revoked. But the presbyterians soon regained their supremacy, and the disabling orders against him were revoked. On 12 Oct. 1648 he formed one of the committee of sequestrations for Cornwall, and on 4 Nov. the office of master of the armouries in the Tower and at Greenwich was granted to him for life by patent. He was probably expelled through ‘Pride's purge.’
Nicoll sat for Cornwall 1654 to 1655, and was chosen for Bossiney on 11 Jan. 1658–9, and in 1657 he became sheriff of that county. He died of fever on 20 Feb. 1658–9, and was buried at the Savoy on 22 Feb. An elaborate monument, with a Latin inscription and verses in English, which now stands on the south chancel aisle, was erected to his memory in St. Tudy church by his wife Amy in 1681. It contains effigies of himself, his wife, and five sons. He had five sons and two daughters; two of the younger sons were at that time buried in the Savoy, and two of the elder at St. Tudy. His wife Amy, daughter and coheiress of Peter Speccot of Speccot, Devonshire, married in 1670 John Vyvyan of Trewan, Cornwall. Her will was proved on 27 May 1685. In 1640 Nicoll rebuilt the mansion of Penvose, and filled the windows with stained glass, em​blazoned with his own arms and those of the families with whom he was connected. About 1740 the family estates were alienated.
The differences, in which Nicoll was concerned, between the army and the parliament, formed the subject-matter of several pamphlets. In 1643 there were published ‘Two Letters, one from Robert, Earl of Essex, to Anthony Nicoll; the other to Sir Samuel Luke;’ and in 1646 there came out ‘Several Letters to William Lenthal on the Gallant Proceedings of Sir Thomas Fairfax in the West,’ one of which was from Nicoll. Mercer's ‘Angliæ Speculum’ (1646) contains a sonnet to him, and Captain John Harris printed in 1651 a petition to parliament against the proceedings of Rudyerd, Alexander Pym, and Nicoll as trustees ‘for the payment of M. Pym's debts, and raising portions for two younger children.’ Letters, both printed and in manuscript, by him are in the ‘Thurloe State Papers,’ iii. 227, iv. 451; Additional MSS., British Museum; Rawlinson and Tanner MSS. at the Bodleian Library; the House of Lords MSS.; and those of G. A. Lowndes (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. App. pp. 552–65).
W. P. C.