Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicol, Mrs.
NICOL, Mrs. (d. 1834?), actress, was about 1800 housekeeper to Colonel and the Hon. Mrs. Milner, and while in that capacity became a member of the Shakespearean Society of London, the members of which used to act in a little theatre in Tottenham Court Road. She played Belvidera for a charitable benefit at the old Lyceum, and was, when her dramatic aptitude was discovered, encouraged by her master and mistress, who allowed her to remain in their service until she had gained enough experience to take to the boards for a livelihood. This she did in the provinces, and married soon after. Neither her maiden name nor the spot she selected for her professional début has been recorded. Nicol, her husband, was a printer, and easily obtained a situation in Edinburgh, in which town she made her first appearance, 15 Dec. 1806, as Cicely in ‘Valentine and Orson.’ On 3 Aug. 1807 she played Miss Durable in Kenney's farce ‘Raising the Wind,’ and on 23 Nov. in the same year Cottager's Wife in Mrs. Inchbald's ‘Lovers' Vows.’ It was in 1807 that she finally succeeded Mrs. Charteris in the old-women rôles which the latter actress had long monopolised at the Theatre Royal. Other parts she played in 1807–8 were: Mrs. Scant in the ‘Village Lawyer,’ Alice in the ‘Castle Spectre,’ Lady Mary Raffle in ‘Wives as they were,’ Winifred in ‘Children of the Wood,’ Manse in the ‘Gentle Shepherd,’ &c. On 2 May 1808 she took her first benefit. When, in 1809, the management was taken by Henry Siddons, she went with him to the New Theatre Royal in Leith Walk, playing Monica, an old woman, in Dimond's ‘Flowers of the Forest.’ On 25 Feb. 1817 she was Mrs. M'Candlish in Terry's adaptation of Scott's ‘Guy Mannering,’ and on 14 July 1817 Mrs. Malaprop in the ‘Rivals.’ At the first production in Edinburgh of ‘Rob Roy’ (15 Feb. 1819) she played Jean McAlpine, and the same part on the occasion of the king's visit to the theatre, 27 Aug. 1822. On 3 Dec. 1819, the first occasion when gas was used, she played Mrs. Hardcastle in ‘She stoops to conquer.’ The ‘Scotsman’ newspaper said about this time, ‘Mrs. Nicol is extremely amusing in her aged department, just in most of her conceptions, and quite perfect in the acting of many of her parts.’ Other parts she sustained were Mrs. Glass in ‘Heart of Midlothian,’ 23 Feb. 1820; Miss Grizelda Oldbuck in the ‘Antiquary,’ 20 Dec. 1820; Mysie in the ‘Bride of Lammermoor,’ 1 May 1822. At this time Mrs. Nicol was receiving 2l. per week for her services, and filling all the first old-women parts. She played Dame Ellesmere in ‘Peveril of the Peak,’ 12 April 1823; Mrs. Flockhart in the ‘Pirate,’ 29 March 1824; Tibbie Howieson in ‘Cramond Brig,’ 27 Feb. 1826; Mrs. McTavish in ‘Gilderoy,’ 25 June 1827; and Audrey in ‘As you like it,’ on the occasion of a special reproduction, with costumes designed by Planché, 27 Dec. 1828. During the summer season of 1833 she did not appear at the Adelphi, her parts being taken by Mrs. Macnamara. At the commencement of the season 1833–4 her name was included in the official list of the company, but she only appeared occasionally. At her farewell benefit, on 10 April 1834, she played three parts—Mrs. Malaprop, Miss Durable, and Mrs. Deborah Doublelock—in Francis Reynolds's one-act operetta ‘No.’ She was a sound and capable actress in the line of parts played in London at the same date by Mrs. Davenport, upon whose acting she seems to have formed her style. She especially excelled in comic parts. The ‘Theatrical Inquisitor’ said she was of great use in ‘stiff, aged matrons, and old maids full of wrinkles’ (iv. 163). There is a good portrait of her as Mrs. Oldbuck in the acting edition (Edinburgh, 1823) of the ‘Antiquary.’ Mrs. Nicol died soon after her retirement in 1834.
She had a large family; her daughter Emma is noticed separately. Other of her daughters went on the stage. Miss M. Nicol seems to have had merit, as she was accorded a benefit exclusively for herself in 1823; but perhaps this was on account of her dancing, which must have been excellent. Miss C. Nicol also danced. Miss Julia Nicol was a member of the Theatre Royal and Caledonian Theatre companies, Edinburgh, for some years, and, afterwards attaining a good position in other provincial centres, she married John Harris, manager of the Theatre Royal, Dublin, and died 11 May 1894, in her ninetieth year. Mother and daughters were all respected on account of their quiet and industrious lives.
[Materials supplied by Joseph Knight, esq., and J. C. Dibdin, esq.; Dibdin's Annals of the Edinburgh Stage; Theatrical Inquisitor; ‘Genuine Gossip by an Old Actress,’ Era 1853.]