#382, Arthur Villeneuve NICOLLE

Arthur was a Jurat 1933-34 and owned La Chaire, Rozel, and St Peter's House, Jersey.

The Nicolles came from Jersey where they had a fleet of sailing ships carrying out the triangular trade. Knitted goods (Jerseys!) were made in Jersey, sold to fishermen of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland for salt cod, which were then sold to the Catholics of Spain and Portugal for port and sherry, which were sold to rich merchants in London. The proceeds then used to buy East Anglian wool. All went well till the cod on the Grand Banks were fished out. Jersey was ruined, with unemployment reaching 50%.

Joshua Nicolle came to England around 1880 and was befriended by a Mercer. His 3 sons were educated at the Mercer's School, but girls were not admitted. The Mercers then started St. Paul's Girls School and Grace was one of the original girls and also the first to be awarded an Oxbridge Scholarship and their first First at Cambridge. They were a talented family.

The eldest became head of the Trinity House, where his WWI medals are on display. The second son was called to the bar, but then suffered from rhumatoid arthritis. Grace became one of England's first lady Psychiatrists and Arthur Villeneuve got a first in engineering and went to India in 1912. He fought with 3rd Sappers and Miners in 'Mespots', was mentioned in dispatches and briefly was the youngest major in the army. He stayed out in India, working in Calcutta till 1930, having married Alice Marguerite in 1928.