Admiral SIR Douglas Romilly Lothian Nicholson, K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., Royal Navy (4 March, 1867 – 8 February, 1946) was an officer of the Royal Navy during the First World War.
Nicholson was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 1 April, 1889.
Nicholson was appointed Flag Lieutenant to Admiral Sir Frederick W. Richards, Commander-in-Chief on the China Station, on 29 November, 1890.
On 16 September, 1892, Nicholson was appointed to the Anson as Flag Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Edward H. Seymour, the new Second-in-Command of the Channel Squadron.
He was appointed Flag Lieutenant to Vice-Admiral Compton E. Domvile on 8 June, 1897.
Nicholson was promoted to the rank of Commander on 19 August, 1899.
Nicholson was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1904. He was reappointed as Superintendent of Signal Schools on the same date. On 20 August, 1905, he was appointed to the second class protected cruiser Hyacinth, as Flag Captain to Rear-Admiral Edmund S. Poë, the new Commander-in-Chief on the East Indies Station. At some point Poë's flag was transferred to Hyacinth's sister ship, Hermes. He was superseded in command on 20 August, 1908.
Back in Britain, he was appointed to H.M.S. President to take the War Course at the Royal Naval War College, Portsmouth. He was placed first in order of merit out of six captains with a First Class pass on the course, which ran from 9 February to 28 May, 1909.[9] From 1 September to 19 October he served in the battlecruiser Inflexible as Flag Captain to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward H. Seymour on a voyage to New York City for the Hudson-Fulton celebrations.
On 17 January, 1910, he was appointed to Victory for command of the new battleship St. Vincent, building at Portsmouth dockyard. However, on 31 January he was appointed in command of the battleship Lord Nelson, after her captain, Sir Robert K. Arbuthnot, was summarily relieved of command for making intemperate political remarks in a public address.
Nicholson was reappointed to St. Vincent on 31 March, and remained in command until 5 January, 1912. He was appointed to Vivid on 15 May for command of the battleship Conqueror, building at William Beardmore & Company's, Parkhead.
On 16 December, 1913, Nicholson was appointed to the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert as Commodore, Second Class in command of H.M. Yachts.
On 8 August, 1914, Nicholson was appointed in command of the battleship Agincourt of the Fourth Battle Squadron.
He was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 10 January, 1916, vice Dundas of Dundas. He was superseded in command of Agincourt on the same day.
After a bout of haemorrhoids he was appointed Rear-Admiral in the Third Battle Squadron on 13 March, 1917, flying his flag in Zealandia, and, from 26 March, Hibernia. When Roger Keyes was appointed out of the Fourth Battle Squadron to the new position of Director of Plans at the Admiralty, squadron commander Sir F. C. Doveton Sturdee requested "White Nick" to succeed Keyes. Nicholson hoisted his flag on 25 September in Colossus. On 11 February, 1918, Sturdee wrote of him, "Has not served long in Squadron but fulfils my expectations when I applied for him. A most loyal second & an addition to the Squadron."