b. 11/06/1891 Lincoln, New Zealand. d. 23/10/1918 Le Quesnoy, France.
Henry James Nicholas (1891-1918) was born at Lincoln, New Zealand on 11th June 1891. His father, Richard Henry Nicholas, married Hannah Day in 1886. She was born in Abingdon, Berkshire and her forename has also been seen as Annie, Anna and Annah. Henry had six siblings. Henry was educated at Christchurch Normal School in Cranmer Square and at Christchurch East School. He was apprenticed to a carpenter to Baker Brothers, Loburn, Christchurch and was a well known amateur boxer. He later moved to Queensland, Australia, with a schoolmate, Albert, and worked there for four years, living in the Brisbane suburb of Hamilton.
Henry J Nicholas VC MM
Nicholas tried to enlist whilst he was in Brisbane in 1915, but his application was rejected due to having loose teeth, which could have been a result of boxing which he was reputedly adept at. He did try a second time, but the same reason for rejection was given. Frustrated at his inability to join the Army he decided to return to New Zealand and try to enlist there. He applied for enlistment in January 1916, and the following month Nicholas successfully enlisted in the New Zealand Military Forces, and he embarked for Europe three months later with the 13th Reinforcements Battalion to join the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in France. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Canterbury Regiment with the rank of Private. His brothers, Ernest and Frederick, also served in the Army during the Great War.
His early forays into the Great War were limited due to a slight case of the mumps in May 1917, and he was went absent from billets on 27th June, which led to a five day Field Punishment No 2. After another period of hospitalisation for illness, he finally rejoined the Battalion on 25th October.
Nicholas was involved in an attack on Polderhoek Chateau on 3 December 1917. The chateau stood on top of the Polderhoek Spur, which overlooked the trenches occupied by the 2nd Infantry Brigade, to which Nicholas’s battalion was assigned. The Canterbury and Otago battalions attacked midday but was slowed by heavy machine-gun fire. It was then that Nicholas performed the actions that led to the award of the VC.
Private Nicholas, who was one of a Lewis gun section, had orders to form a defensive flank to the right of the advance, which was checked by heavy machine-gun and rifle fire from an enemy strong-point. Whereupon, followed by the remainder of his section at an interval of about 25 yards, Private Nicholas rushed forward alone, shot the officer in command of the strong-point, and overcame the remainder of the garrison of sixteen with bombs and bayonets, capturing four wounded prisoners and a machine-gun. He captured this strong-point practically single-handed, and thereby saved many casualties. Subsequently, when the advance reached its limit, Private Nicholas collected ammunition under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire.
The advance resumed but ground to a halt 150 yards short of the chateau where the New Zealanders established a new front line. During this phase of the fighting, Nicholas moved along the lines, collecting and distributing ammunition. What was left of the Canterbury and Otago battalions were relieved on the 5th December 1917. The award of the VC to Nicholas was gazetted in January 1918, and he was presented with his VC by King George V at an investiture at Buckingham Palace in July 1918, having been promoted to Sergeant the previous month. He was the only member of the Canterbury Regiment to be awarded the VC.
During the Hundred Days Offensive Nicholas added the Military Medal to his medal group for actions performed in late September to early October during operations on Welsh and Bon Avis Ridges. On the 23rd October 1918, he was performing guard duty at a bridge near Le Quesnoy when a German patrol encountered his position. He was killed during the ensuing exchange of gunfire and was originally buried in Beaudignies Cemetery, but was later reburied in the Vertigneul Churchyard at Romeries on the 29th October 1918. The award of his MM was gazetted in March 1919, and the citation made note of his “fearless leadership and contempt for danger”.
A bronze statue, by the artist Mark Whyte, along with biographical details of Nicholas was erected on the banks of the Avon River on the 7th March 2007, near the Bridge of Remembrance, and in September 2008, a plaque in memory of Nicholas was unveiled by the community of Zonnebeke and the New Zealand Embassy in Brussels, near Geluveld, just south west of the area where Nicholas earned the VC.
In addition to his VC and MM, he was awarded the British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal 1914-19. The VC was in the safekeeping at the New Zealand Record Office in London and was later posted to his mother in Christchurch, New Zealand, arriving on 30th April 1919. His commemorative scroll was despatched to his father on 27th June 1921 and his remaining medals to his mother on 19th October 1921. Nicholas’ Victoria Cross and Military Medal were given by his mother to the Canterbury Museum in 1932. The other medals were presented to the Museum in July 2002, together with other items, including his identity disc, his VC citation, a regimental medal for boxing in 1918, his pay book, diary and four photographs. The medals are still held by Canterbury Museum.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: CANTERBURY MUSEUM, CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND.
BURIAL PLACE: VERTIGNEUL CHURCHYARD, VERTIGNEUL, FRANCE.
GRAVE 15.
