George William Nicol [SEP] date of birth
George William Nicol
George William Nicol (1810-1884) was the first African Colonial Secretary of Sierra Leone and was one of few African senior level colonial officials in Freetown during the 19th century. Nicol belonged to the mulatto Settler class that exerted great influence in Freetown during the 19th century.
Early Life and family.
George William Nicol was born to George Nicol and Jane Small Nicol. George Nicol was a Scottish carpenter who worked for the Sierra Leone Company during the 1790s. Jane Small was the mixed race daughter
William Nicol (geologist)
Dr William Nicol FRSE FCS (18 April 1770 – 2 September 1851) was a Scottish geologist and physicist who invented the Nicol prism, the first device for obtaining plane-polarized light, in 1828.
Early life.
He was born in Humbie (East Lothian) in 1770 the son of Walter Nicol and Marion Fowler. He was baptised on 18 Apr 1770 this being recorded in the parish register. Some sources (including his gravestone) give his date of birth as 1766.