Hedley Hope-Nicholson
Hedley Hope-Nicholson (born William Hedley Kenelm Nicholson; 17 July 1888 – 18 July 1969), barrister and littérateur, was, with his wife Jaqueline, notable in English artistic and literary circles in the first half of the twentieth century.[1]
Early life and education
(William) Hedley Kenelm Nicholson was born at Bowdon, Cheshire, son of Alfred John Nicholson (1858-1928), a woollen merchant and coat manufacturer (Nicholson's Raincoats, of St Albans, Hertfordshire) from a family of Manchester tailors, and his wife Mary (1856-1926), daughter of currier Thomas Cleghorn, of Bildeston, Suffolk.[2][3] His twin brother, Sigismund John Nicholson, died aged two. The family later lived at St Albans. Nicholson was educated at the University of Oxford.[4][5][6]
Career
A barrister of the
Personal life
In 1916, Nicholson married Jaqueline Louise Rachel (1889-1972), daughter of Adrian Charles Francis Hope, descended from the
Their children were the artist Mary Lauretta Jaqueline Carola Desirée Valentine Esmé ('Lauretta', 1919–2005) who married the artist Jean Hugo in 1949 and worked as an assistant editor on the Burlington Magazine and with Richard Buckle on his publication 'Ballet'; Marie-Jaqueline Albertine Dorothea Beatrice Alexina Romaine Adriana (9 August 1922 – 17 May 2010; married in 1945 war correspondent (Herbert) Maurice Lancaster and had two daughters), who compiled Brian Howard: Portrait of a Failure in 1968, about Brian Howard; and (Charles) Felix Otho Victor Gabriel John Adrian (1921–1990), genealogist and antiquarian.[14]
Couplet
According to the art historian and writer Bevis Hillier, John Betjeman wrote a libellous couplet about Hope-Nicholson and his (at the time unusual for a man) habit of using make-up:
H is for Hedley, who lives in a Place.
What he makes on his bottom, he spends on his face.[15]
However, James Lees-Milne, in his Diaries, gave a different account and version of the poem: "John Betjeman quotes the following couplet composed by the Widow Lloyd about Hedley Hope-Nicholson, that painted- but delightful- old queen:
H is for Hedley, the pride of Old Place,
What he earned from his bottom he spent on his face.[16]
References
- ^ Obituary in The Times (26 July 1969, p.10). The obituary gives his age at death as "81".
- ^ "More House Archive".
- ^ A. J. Nicholson- Coat Maker, Liz Bloom, Fleetville Diaries, Fleetville Community Centre, St Albans
- ^ The Weekly Notes, ed. Sir Frederick Pollock, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, 1918, p. 145
- ^ "Hedley Hope-Nicholson".
- ^ "More House Archive".
- ^ Family First: Tracing Relationships in the Past, Ruth Alexandra Symes, Pen and Sword History, 2015, pg 83
- Independent.co.uk. 13 July 2010. Archivedfrom the original on 9 May 2022.
- ^ Family First: Tracing Relationships in the Past, Ruth Alexandra Symes, Pen and Sword History, 2015, pg 83
- ^ "Hedley Hope-Nicholson".
- ^ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 1920, pg 561
- ^ Family First: Tracing Relationships in the Past, Ruth Alexandra Symes, Pen and Sword History, 2015, pg 83
- Independent.co.uk. 18 February 2005. Archivedfrom the original on 9 May 2022.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage 1963, Kelly's Directories, 1963, p. 750
- ^ "The other Life of Brian | the Spectator".
- ^ Diaries 1971-1983, James Lees-Milne, John Murray, 2008, p. 243