Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas

Born at Dartmouth on March 10, 1799, he served in the Royal Navy as a boy and young man before turning to law. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1825, though his real distinction came through historical and antiquarian research rather than courtroom practice.

He became known for energetic work on genealogy, public records, and medieval documents, and was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Society. He also served on the Record Commission and wrote or edited a wide range of books, including studies connected with English history and literature, among them a life of Geoffrey Chaucer.

In later years he was a prominent and sometimes combative voice in debates about historical scholarship and record-keeping in Britain. He died on August 3, 1848, leaving behind a large body of work that remained useful to historians, genealogists, and literary scholars.