NICHOLSON, ROBERT (1865-1941)

NICHOLSON, ROBERT, doctor; b. Chatham, 19 May 1865, s/o John R. Nicholson, a native of Silloth, England, and Elizabeth Ritchie, a native of Renfrewshire, Scotland; m. 1894, Margaret Isabella Russell, d/o Matthew Russell and Sarah Ann Ingram; d. Newcastle, 16 Dec 1941.

A grandson of the tanner and currier by the same name, Robert Nicholson graduated from Harkins Academy and the University of New Brunswick (BA 1884, MA 1886) and was trained in medicine at the University of New York (MD 1887). Before entering medical school he studied with Dr Hiram A. Fish. After taking his MD he interned for fourteen months at the London Hospital and the Ophthalmic Hospital in Moorfields, England. When he returned he took a three-month course at the Polyclinic Hospital in New York. He then began a general practice in Newcastle which he continued for more than fifty-three years. From 1896 to 1900 he was surgeon major of the 12th Field Battery at Newcastle. During World War I he was medical officer to the garrison at the Wireless Station. From 1917 to 1935 he was the main medical instructor of nurses in training at the Miramichi Hospital.

Nicholson was a classmate of William F. Ganong at the University of New Brunswick, and in 1891 he helped gather historical data on Newcastle and its surrounding communities for Ganong's New Brunswick settlement studies. His chief informant was William Russell Jr of Douglastown, and one or more of the reports which he submitted by letter are preserved in the Ganong Collection at the New Brunswick Museum.

Nicholson made a singular contribution to public education in Newcastle by serving as chairman of the board of school trustees from the time of the town's incorporation in 1899 until his death forty-two years later. He was a leading member of the local Masonic fraternity and worshipful master of Northumberland Lodge for three one-year terms between 1908 and 1914. He was president of the Highland Society in 1920 and a lifelong member of the Presbyterian-United Church. He and his wife, Margaret I. Russell, had two daughters and a son. One of their daughters was Annie R. Nicholson, the wife of the Rev. Robert H. Scott. Their son was John R. Nicholson, a lawyer, businessman, and politician, who served as a cabinet minister under prime ministers Pearson and Trudeau, and was subsequently lieutenant governor of British Columbia.