Background
Richard Nicolls was born in 1624 Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England. He was was the fourth son of Francis Nicolls, a barrister of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir George Bruce.
Richard Nicolls was born in 1624 Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England. He was was the fourth son of Francis Nicolls, a barrister of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir George Bruce.
Nicolls abandoned a university career to enter the army, but no record of his matriculation at either Oxford or Cambridge has been found. In 1663, however, Oxford conferred a doctorate of laws upon him.
In 1643 Richard took command of a troop of horse against the parliamentary forces.
Nicolls, together with two brothers, followed the Stuarts into exile, where he attached himself to the Duke of York, serving under the latter's command in the French army.
It was probably during this service that he gained the title of colonel by which he was always subsequently known. He was never knighted as sometimes has been said. Upon the Restoration, he became a groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of York.
In 1664, when Charles II determined to seize the Dutch colony of New Netherland and conferred the lands between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers upon the Duke of York, the latter appointed Nicolls governor of the province about to be acquired. The king also made him the principal member of a commission of four men empowered to investigate the condition of affairs in New England, to hear complaints and appeals in the colonies of that region, and to bring them under closer control of the Crown. Nicolls and his associates, accompanied by three companies of troops and a squadron of four vessels, sailed from England in May. After spending a few weeks on the New England coast the squadron blockaded New Amsterdam on August 18 and shortly afterwards Nicolls sent a summons to Peter Stuyvesant, the director general, to surrender. Stuyvesant favored resistance, but was opposed by the leading inhabitants when they learned that Nicolls offered liberal terms for submission to English authority. The capitulation took place without bloodshed on August 29, and subordinates of Nicolls soon effected the occupation of all other Dutch posts.
The new governor began at once the difficult task of organizing the administration in conformity with his instructions from the Duke of York. He wisely made the transition to English institutions of local government as gradual as possible and appointed many of the Dutch inhabitants to minor offices. Since many towns on Long Island had been settled by New Englanders, Nicolls promised them equal, if not greater, freedoms and immunities than any of his Majesty's colonies in New England. Nevertheless, the authority given to the Duke of York by his charter was extensive and he never intended that his governor should establish an elective legislature.
The "Duke's Laws", which was largely drawn from the codes of Massachusetts and New Haven, was put in force at once in the English parts of the colony and was gradually extended to the Dutch communities as well. Some outspoken criticism arose among the Long Islanders at the absence of any provision for an assembly such as they had expected from Nicoll's earlier promises, but in spite of his arbitrary powers, he ruled so fairly and well that he gained almost universal respect and esteem. He was so much occupied with the affairs of New York that he was able to devote little time to his duties as head of the royal commission to New England.
After the other commissioners had met with some success in Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, Nicolls joined them in Boston in May 1665. But the theocratic leaders of Massachusetts were so determined to preserve their system of control without interference that the royal appointees were able to accomplish nothing. The Massachusetts General Court defended its actions in an address to the king in which it charged all the commissioners except Nicolls with acting in a spirit of partisanship.
Nicolls remained in office in New York until his resignation as governor, which took effect in August 1668. His departure was accompanied with every evidence of the high regard in which the colonists held him. Once more in England, he resumed his place as groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of York.
On the outbreak of the Third Dutch War in 1672 he volunteered to serve in the fleet and was killed at the battle of Solebay.
Nicolls issued a legal code, known as the "Duke's Laws, " which he had prepared with the assistance of the secretary, Matthias Nicolls, and the court of assizes. Nicolls achieved the transition from Dutch to English rule tactfully and gradually, and his subsequent government of New York was so efficient and fair that he earned the general esteem of both its Dutch and English colonists.
