View source for Guy Nickalls

{{short description|British rower}}
{{For|his son, also an Olympic silver medalist|Guy Oliver Nickalls}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name   = Guy Nickalls
| image     =  Nickalls 5537493922 6b328c147b o.jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption  = Nickalls circa 1915
| birth_date  = {{birth date|df=yes|1866|11|13|}} 
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|1935|07|08|1866|11|13}} 
| birth_place = [[Sutton, London]]|
| education      = [[Eton College]] and Magdalen College Oxford,

| occupation     = [[Rowing (sport)|rower]]
| relations         = [[Vivian Nickalls]], brother
| parents        = [[Tom Nickalls]] & [[Emily Quihampton]]
| children       = [[Guy Oliver Nickalls]]
}}
[[File:Nickalls G Vanity Fair 1889-07-20.jpg|thumb|''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' "[[Leslie Ward|Spy]]" caricature from 1889]]
'''Guy Nickalls''' (13 November 1866 – 8 July 1935) was a British [[Rowing (sport)|rower]] who competed in the [[1908 Summer Olympics]] as a member of the British eight that won gold, won 22 events at [[Henley Royal Regatta]] and won the [[Wingfield Sculls]] three times.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/37417 |title=Guy Nickalls |work=Olympedia |access-date=7 April 2021}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Nickalls was born at [[Sutton, London|Sutton]], then in [[Surrey]], the son of [[Tom Nickalls]] (1827–1899) who was a [[stockjobber]] on the [[stock exchange]] and one of the founding members of the [[London Rowing Club]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Tom Nickalls Dies in England |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1899/05/12/archives/tom-nickalls-dies-in-england.html  |quote=Tom Nickalls, father of the famous scullers, Guy and Vivian Nickalls, died to-day at Pattison Court, at the age of seventy-two. When a boy Mr. Nickalls ... |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=12 May 1899  |access-date=24 March 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tom Nickalls Dead |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OL0IAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LSkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2018,6846700&dq=nickalls+father+of+the+famous+scullers+guy+and+vivian+nickalls&hl=en|quote=Nickalls, father of the famous scullers, Guy and Vivian Nickalls, died to-day at court, Redhill, at the age of 72 years. When a boy, Mr. Nickalls ... |newspaper=[[Daily Mail and Empire]] |date=12 May 1899 |access-date=24 March 2011 }}</ref> His mother, [[Emily Quihampton]] was the first woman to climb [[Mont Blanc]] and [[Monte Rosa|Monta Rosa]] in the same week.<ref name=pudding>Guy Nickalls ''Life's a pudding :an autobiography'' 1939</ref> Guy was one of twelve children, of whom his brother [[Vivian Nickalls|Vivian]] was also a successful oarsman.{{fact|date=April 2021}} 
 
Nickalls was educated at [[Eton College]], where he was known as "Luni" due to his reckless behaviour{{ref|vanityfair}}. He played football with success, and when not engaged in athletically breaking his bones or risking his neck, he would row. At Eton, he won the Junior Sculling in 1884, the School Pulling in 1885/86, and School Sculling in 1885. His ability was soon noticed, and he secured the four seats in the Eton Eight, carrying off the [[Ladies' Challenge Plate]] at [[Henley Royal Regatta]] in 1885.
[[File:Équipe d'Oxford en 1890.jpg|thumb|right|The 1890 Oxford rowing crew, Nickalls is sitting at the centre front]]
Nickalls went up to [[Magdalen College, Oxford]] in 1886.<ref name=Baker>M. Blandford-Baker, Upon the Elysian Stream, 2008</ref> At Oxford, he won the University Sculls in 1887, the University Pairs in 1888, 1889 and 1890 – with W.F.D. Smith once and twice with [[Oliver Russell, 2nd Baron Ampthill|Lord Ampthill]] – and the University Fours in 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1889. He went head of the river in 1888 with Magdalen and rowed for [[Oxford University Boat Club|Oxford]] in [[the Boat Race]] for five years from [[The Boat Race 1887|1887]] to [[The Boat Race 1891|1891]] losing three races and winning two. He was O.U.B.C. President in 1890.<ref name=Baker/> During his time at Oxford, he showed his prowess as a [[sculling|sculler]], winning the [[Wingfield Sculls]] in 1887 when his defeated opponents were [[James Cardwell Gardner|"Jumps" Gardner]] and [[Steve Fairbairn]], 1888 when he beat Gardner again and 1889 when no one would race against him.<ref>[http://www.rowingservice.com/wingfieldsrecords.xls Wingfield Sculls Record of Races]</ref> He lost the [[Diamond Challenge Sculls]] in 1887 to Gardner. However, he won in 1888, 1889 and 1890, beating [[Gilbert Kennedy (rower)|Gilbert Kennedy]] in the last year. In 1890 he also won [[Silver Goblets]] partnering [[Oliver Russell, 2nd Baron Ampthill|Lord Ampthill]].{{fact|date=April 2021}}

==Main rowing career==
{{MedalTop}}
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Rowing at the Summer Olympics|rowing]]}}
{{MedalCountry|{{GBR2}}}}
{{MedalGold|[[1908 Summer Olympics|1908 London]] | [[Rowing at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's eight|Eight]]}}
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After Oxford, Nickalls joined [[Leander Club|Leander]], of which he was Captain in 1892 and 1897 and took the main prizes at Henley Royal Regatta over the next seven years. His Leander crew won the [[Grand Challenge Cup]] in 1891 and 1892, and in 1891, he and Ampthill won Silver Goblets again. In 1893, he was in the Magdalen crew that won the [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] and won the Diamonds again against Kennedy. In 1894, he won Silver Goblets, partnering with his brother Vivian, whom he defeated in the same year in the Diamonds. Vivian Nickalls became a member of [[London Rowing Club]], and Guy joined them to win the Stewards in 1895, and the brothers also won Silver Goblets again that year. However, Guy lost Diamonds that year to [[Rupert Guinness]]. In 1896, Nickalls had three wins – the Grand with Leander, Stewards with London Rowing Club, and Silver Goblets with his brother. In 1897 he won Stewards with Leander and Silver Goblets with E. R. Balfour.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rowinghistory.net/HRR%20US/hrr_1839-1939.htm |title=Henley Royal Regatta Results of Final Races 1839–1939 |access-date=20 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309113109/http://www.rowinghistory.net/HRR%20US/hrr_1839-1939.htm |archive-date=9 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After a break of several years, Nickalls was a member of the Leander crew that won the Grand in 1905, but over the next few years, the dominant eight in the event was the Belgian crew from [[Royal Club Nautique de Gand]]. Nickalls was a member of the winning crews in the Stewards in 1905, 1906 and 1907. In 1908, he was a member of the Leander [[eight (rowing)|eight]], which was assembled to challenge the Belgians [[rowing at the 1908 Summer Olympics]] and beat them to win the gold medal for Great Britain.<ref>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ni/guy-nickalls-1.html |title=Guy Nickalls |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418042059/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ni/guy-nickalls-1.html |archive-date=2020-04-18}}</ref>

==Later career==

From 1913 to 1916, Nickalls coached [[Yale]], enticed to New Haven by Averell Harriman, and a sufficient salary to help see his two sons through Eton.  Though his Yale crews won two of the three years he was there, Nickalls found the environment stressful and foreign.  He was partly to blame, by spouting opinions better left unsaid or, if said, certainly not within earshot of the attentive rowing press.  Yet such remarks – "Their paddling is bad, their rowing, worse" (about the Yale 1916 crew){<ref name=Nickalls5>G. Nickalls, ''quoted in'' T. Mendenhall, ''The Harvard-Yale Race and the Coming of Sport to the American College'' p. 298</ref>—were wholly in line with his personality:  as O.U.B.C. President, he nearly scotched the 1890 Boat Race by calling the Cambridge crew "probably a poorer lot than usual" in an official letter to his counterpart, [[Stanley Muttlebury|S.D. Muttlebury]].<ref name=Nickalls6>G. Nickalls, quoted in ''[[Windsor Magazine]]'', p. 109 (July 1896)</ref>
  
Nickalls tried to join the army in 1914 on the outbreak of war but was turned down on account of age.  By late 1917, the army had a change of heart, sending him to France, then age fifty, as a Captain in the 23rd Lancashire Fusiliers in charge of physical and bayonet training. After the war, he resumed his career as a stockbroker.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

When Zürich Rowing Club won the Stewards on 6 July 1935, Nickalls told Gully, "Thank God I have been spared to see what I believe to be the finest four of all time".  The next morning, he was in a car crash near [[Leeds]] en route to Scotland for a fishing holiday and died in hospital the following evening. On the same day, his school friend and rowing partner, Lord Ampthill, died.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

==Personal==
Nickalls married Ellen Gilbey Gold in London in 1898. She was the sister of [[Harcourt Gilbey Gold|Sir Harcourt Gold]], who was chairman of Henley Royal Regatta from 1945 to 1952 and Chairman of the [[Amateur Rowing Association|ARA]] from 1948 to 1952. Their son [[Guy Oliver Nickalls]] was also a rower who competed in two Olympic games. Nickalls snr. co-authored a history of the noted Irish actor and comedian [[Thomas Doggett]] and his [[Doggett's Coat and Badge|eponymous rowing race]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Thomas Doggett Deceased|first1=Theodore Andrea|last1=Cook|first2=Guy|last2=Nickalls|author1-link=Theodore Andrea Cook|place=London|year=1908|publisher=Archibald Constable|url=https://archive.org/details/thomasdoggettdec00cook}}</ref>

==Rowing achievements==

===Olympic Games===
* 1908 – Gold, Eight (racing in a Leander crew representing Great Britain)

===Henley Wins===
* 1885 – Ladies Plate (racing as Eton College)
* 1888 – [[Diamond Challenge Sculls]] (racing as Magd. Coll., Oxon)
* 1889 – [[Diamond Challenge Sculls]] (racing as Magd. Coll., Oxon)
* 1890 – [[Silver Goblets]] (with Lord Ampthill, racing as OUBC)
* 1890 – [[Diamond Challenge Sculls]] (racing as Magd. Coll., Oxon)
* 1891 – [[Grand Challenge Cup]] (racing as Leander Club)
* 1891 – [[Silver Goblets]] (with Lord Ampthill, racing as Leander Club)
* 1892 – [[Grand Challenge Cup]] (racing as Leander Club)
* 1893 – [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] (racing as Magd. Coll., Oxon)
* 1893 – [[Diamond Challenge Sculls]] (racing as Magd. Coll., Oxon)
* 1894 – [[Silver Goblets]] (with V. Nickalls racing as Formosa BC)
* 1894 – [[Diamond Challenge Sculls]] (racing as Formosa BC)
* 1895 – [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] (racing as London RC)
* 1895 – [[Silver Goblets]] (with V. Nickalls racing as London RC)
* 1896 – [[Grand Challenge Cup]] (racing as Leander Club)
* 1896 – [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] (racing as London RC)
* 1896 – [[Silver Goblets]] (with V. Nickalls racing as London RC)
* 1897 – [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] (racing as Leander Club)
* 1897 – [[Silver Goblets]] (with E.R Balfour racing as Leander Club)
* 1905 – [[Grand Challenge Cup]] (racing as Leander Club)
* 1905 – [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] (racing as Leander Club)
* 1906 – [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] (racing as Leander Club)
* 1907 – [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] (racing as Magd. Coll., Oxon)

===Wingfield Sculls===
* 1887
* 1888
* 1889

==See also==
*[[List of Oxford University Boat Race crews]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=37337| name=Guy Nickalls}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Guy Nickalls}}
*[[Wikibooks:The Rowers of Vanity Fair/Nickalls G|The Rowers of Vanity Fair/Nickalls G – Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks<!-- bot-generated title -->]] at en.wikibooks.org
{{Commons category}}
*{{sports links}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Olympic champions – Men's eight}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nickalls, Guy}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1935 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Yale University staff]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Rowers at the 1908 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain]]
[[Category:Nickalls family|Guy]]
[[Category:English male rowers]]
[[Category:Members of Leander Club]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics]]