Background
Horace Walter Nicholls was born on February 17, 1867, in Cambridge, United Kingdom. He was the son of Charlotte (nee Johnson) and Arthur N. Nicholls, a professional photographer.
Horace Walter Nicholls was born on February 17, 1867, in Cambridge, United Kingdom. He was the son of Charlotte (nee Johnson) and Arthur N. Nicholls, a professional photographer.
Horace Nicholls was apprenticed to his photographer father on the Isle of Wight and in Huddersfield before setting up as a professional photographer in Johannesburg.
Horace Nicholls then returned to England as a freelance, specializing in pictures of social and sporting events for magazines such as The Tatler, The Illustrated London News, and Black and White, being one of the first photographers to make a living from documentary photography.
During World War I, Horace Nicholls worked initially as a freelance photographer. In 1917, he was appointed Home Front Official Photographer by the forerunner of the Ministry of Information. At the end of the war, Nicholls joined the newly established Imperial War Museum as its first chief photographer. In this capacity, he photographed the interment of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, and the unveiling of the Cenotaph in Whitehall in addition to the early years of the Museum's early years in the Crystal Palace and South Kensington Galleries. Nicholls continued to work in this capacity until his retirement in 1936.
Horace Nicholls died of diabetes on 28 July 1941.
Quotes from others about the person
Nicholls had a style that was "completely modern," according to Hopkinson in Treasures of the Royal Photographic Society.
Horace Nicholls had five children, including noted character actor Anthony Nicholls (with Florence Holderness).
