science

Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls

Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls rather than just read about it. In short: Sir Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls (27 September 1851 – 9 February 1926) was a physician, disease specialist, horticulturist, zoologist and legislator in, and publicist for Dominica for over 50 years. He published on a wide variety of topics and was awarded a knighthood for his services just before his death.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Sir Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls (27 September 1851 – 9 February 1926) was a physician, disease specialist, horticulturist, zoologist and legislator in, and publicist for Dominica for over 50 years. He published on a wide variety of topics and was awarded a knighthood for his services just before his death.

Biography Nicholls was born on 27 September 1851 in Spitalfields and baptised at nearby Christ Church on 31 December. He was the eldest of five children of Elizabeth Ann Pitkin and Thomas William Nicholls, a surgical instrument manufacturer. The family lived at 258 Kingsland Road, where Thomas practised his trade; later he was in business there with his second son, Walter James. Nicholls attended the Whitechapel Foundation School. He entered St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College on 25 October 1869 from where, in 1870, he was awarded, in the examination of practical anatomy at St Bartholomew's Hospital, a certificate, examiner's prize, and the Proctorship. The following year he delivered a lecture at school on "The digestive system", concluding a course on physiology. He graduated in medicine (MB and CM) at the University of Aberdeen in 1873, and gained his MD degree from St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1875. Almost immediately he emigrated to Dominica, to serve as Assistant Medical Officer to Dr John Imray who had been there since 1832. Nicholls married Marion Crompton, the "shy and retiring third daughter" of John Corney Crompton and Marianne Félicité Renault, on 6 September 1877. In the period 1878 to 1891 they had 10 children: 4 boys and 6 girls. The family had two homes. One was at St Aroment - a thirty-acre estate on the outskirts of Roseau, which Nicholls inherited from Dr Imray; the other was Kingsland House, a one-story wooden town house "with a broad veranda".

Exploration, and Promotion of Dominica Very soon after his arrival in Dominica, Nicholls and three companions went from Roseau to the interior of the island, in what is now known as Morne Trois Pitons National Park. There, with the help of their carriers (four men and some boys) they climbed up through heavily forested slopes and found Boiling Lake – "a large sheet of water in a constant state of ebullition." On a second trip, in April, the lake's altitude was found to be 2425 feet (739 metres), and its size about 150 by 80 yards, much smaller than estimated on the first trip. Nicholls wrote an article about a volcanic explosion which took place about a mile southwest of Boiling Lake on 4 January 1880. In 1883 he wrote a letter giving a vivid description of the impact of a hurricane on 4 September, with 5 churches destroyed and over 400 families homeless in Roseau. In 1902 he gave a detailed account of events associated with the massive eruption of Mount Pelée in Martinique. On 28 February 1880, Nicholls escorted 14 year-old George Prince of Wales (the future King George V), and his elder brother Prince Albert Victor, first on ponies and then on foot to the "highest point in the island, Morne Diablotin, 5,314 feet high, nearly a thousand feet higher than the highest point in Great Britain, Ben Nevis." Nicholls was a frequent publicist for Dominica. At the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in South Kensington in 1886, he had a large showcase containing samples of many of Dominica's natural products, including essential oils, cocoa, sulphur, bark, coffee, annato [sic] and vanilla. It was "a trophy of multum in parvo" by exhibiting so compactly such a wide range of resources from the island.

Medicine One of Nicholls' first papers after arrival in Dominica was on "Extraction of Foreign Bodies from the Ear" in which he differed from a previous correspondent, Mr Walter Rivington (surgeon in charge of the aural department at the London Hospital), on the best approach to adopt, and taking Rivington to task for relying only on syringing. In 1877 Nicholls was appointed Medical Superintendent of the Dominica Yaws Hospital and, when Dr Imray retired, he succeeded him as Medical Officer of Public Institutions in 1880. In 1891 the Secretary of State for the Colonies appointed him as Special Commissioner to inquire into the prevalence of yaws in the West Indies. His report was published as a Blue book in 1894, and won warm praise from the then Secretary of State, Lord Knutsford: "your report is a monument of your ... ability as a scientific expert". Following this recognition Nicholls was able to write an authoritative chapter on yaws and its treatment. Nicholls was editor of The Leeward Islands Medical Journal. He was also interested in tetanus, malaria and the hookworm disease ancylostomiasis. His most senior appointment before retirement was Principal Medical Officer of Dominica, made in 1922.

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls

In research: Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1851 births, 1926 deaths, 19th-century British medical doctors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls in simple terms?

Why does Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls.