Steele-Nicholson, William Herbert Hamilton (William)
Lieutenant
2nd/2nd West Lancashire Division, Royal Engineers
Died of wounds on Saturday 13 April 1918 (aged 42)
Buried:
East Finchley Cemetery and St. Marylebone Crematorium, Middlesex, England (Grave H. 9. 50)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St. Comgall’s)
Bangor Grammar School
Royal Belfast Golf Club, Holywood
Brother of Captain Alfred Francis James Steele-Nicholson
BIOGRAPHY
William Herbert Hamilton Steele-Nicholson was born on 27 November 1875 in Falmore House, Co Donegal and he was a son of James and Maria Steele-Nicholson (nee Macartney, sometimes McCartney) who were married on 30 October 1870 in Culdaff Parish Church of Ireland Church, Culdaff, Co Donegal.
The Steele-Nicholson family lived in Falmore House, Co Donegal and in Ballow (sometimes Balloo) House, Bangor.
James Steele-Nicholson described himself as a ‘gentleman’ and he and Maria had at least twelve children:
George Percy (born 15 February 1872 in Falmore House, Co Donegal)
Caroline Edith (born 17 August 1873 in Ballyholme, Bangor)
William Herbert Hamilton (born 27 November 1875 in Falmore House, Co Donegal)
Maria Kathleen Isabel (born 6 March 1877 in Ballow House, Bangor)
Robert Charles Henry (born 1 October 1878 in Ballow House, Bangor)
Arthur John Macartney (born 18 December 1880 in Ballow House, Bangor)
Corrianna Georgina (born 18 March 1882 in Ballow House, Bangor)
Margaret Ethel Louise (born 13 January 1884 in Ballow House, Bangor)
Alfred Francis James (born 5 November 1885 in Ballow House, Bangor)
Mary Elizabeth Maud Grace (born 6 April 1887 in Ballow House, Bangor)
Florence Emily (born 13 November 1888 in Ballow House, Bangor)
Eveline Dorothy (born 5 January 1891 in Ballow House, Bangor)
At least five of the children were baptised in Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Comgall’s).
James Steele-Nicholson died on 4 May 1899 in Ballow House (aged 80). Maria Steele-Nicholson died on 1 October 1926.
The Steele-Nicholson family gained military distinction through Brigadier-General John Nicholson who was on active service between 1839 and 1857 in the Anglo-Afghan and Anglo-Sikh wars and the Indian Mutiny.
Alfred Francis James Steele-Nicholson and William Herbert Hamilton Steele-Nicholson were grandsons of George Augustus Chichester Macartney of Holywood House, Co Down and their great-uncles, John and Arthur Macartney, were killed in action at the Khyber Pass during the Second Afghan War.
William Herbert Hamilton Steele-Nicholson attended Bangor Grammar School and after he left school he worked as a mechanical engineer. He moved to Vancouver, Canada in 1910 where he worked as a Civil Engineer. He joined the 6th Field Company Canadian Engineers and returned to England with the Canadian contingent in April 1915. He transferred to the Royal Engineers, was gazetted Second Lieutenant in 1915 and later promoted Lieutenant. He was severely wounded at Guillemont on 8 August 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He was transferred to Endsleigh Palace Hospital in London and he lived for almost two years before he died on 13 April 1918 from the effects of his wounds.
Lieutenant William Herbert Hamilton Steele-Nicholson was 42 when he died and he was buried in East Finchley Cemetery and St. Marylebone Crematorium, Middlesex, England. There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
DIED OF WOUNDS
Lieutenant William Herbert Hamilton Steele-Nicholson is commemorated on Bangor and District War Memorial; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum (Page 22) and on the Memorial Plaques in RBL Bangor Branch, Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St. Comgall’s) and Bangor Grammar School.