Nicolson, Sir Harold

▪ British diplomat and author

in full  Harold George Nicholson  

born Nov. 21, 1886, Tehrān, Iran

died May 1, 1968, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, Eng.

      British diplomat and author of more than 125 books, including political essays, travel accounts, and mystery novels. His three-volume Diaries and Letters (1966–68) is a valuable document of British social and political life from 1930 to 1964.

      Nicolson was born in Iran, where his father, Sir Arthur Nicolson (later 1st Baron Carnock of Carnock), was chargé d'affaires. Throughout his youth, his family moved about from diplomatic post to post, in central Europe, Turkey, Madrid, and Russia. He studied at Balliol College, Oxford (receiving a “pass degree” in 1907; he received a B.A. and M.A. in 1930). He entered the Foreign Office in 1909, with which he remained for 20 years, serving at such overseas posts as Madrid, Tehrān, and Berlin.

      In 1929 Nicolson decided to abandon his diplomatic career. He had already published several biographies: Paul Verlaine (1921), Tennyson (1923), Byron, the Last Journey (1924), Swinburne (1926), and Some People (1927), as well as a novel and other pieces. On Jan. 1, 1930, he became a columnist for Lord Beaverbrook's London Evening Standard and also, on that day, began a diary, in which he made daily entries until Oct. 4, 1964. (Three volumes were edited and published by his son Nigel Nicolson in the late 1960s.)

      Along with his newspaper work, Nicolson also wrote book reviews and gave radio talks. From 1935 to 1945 he was a member of Parliament. He was knighted in 1953. Some of his later books were Curzon, the Last Phase (1934), Politics in the Train (1936), Helen's Tower (1938), Diplomacy (1939), The Congress of Vienna (1946), King George V (1952), and Journey to Java (1957).

      In 1913 Nicolson married the poet and novelist Victoria Sackville-West (Sackville-West, V). Although both proved to have homosexual proclivities, their marriage of deep friendship lasted until her death in 1962. The Nicolsons' home, Long Barn, near Sevenoaks, Kent, became famous for its handsome gardens.

Additional Reading

James Lees-Milne, Harold Nicolson, 2 vol. (1980–81), examines his diplomatic career, his writings, and his marriage.

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