Norman Tom Nickalls was born in April 1864 and received his education at
Eton College. After serving in the
3rd (West Kent Militia) Battalion, Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) he was
commissioned into the
17th Lancers in November 1886, and later served in the
Second Boer War from 1901 to 1902. He was raised to lieutenant colonel and took command of the 17th Lancers in October 1907 and was promoted to colonel in August 1911. On 5 August 1914, a day after the
British entry into World War I, Nickalls was promoted to the temporary rank of
brigadier general and was soon afterwards appointed to the command of the
63rd Infantry Brigade, one of three infantry brigades which formed part of the
21st Division, and was composed of civilian volunteers who had volunteered for service with
Kitchener's Army. The next few months were, for Nickall's brigade, spent in training for eventual overseas service until August 1915 when it departed for the
Western Front. The brigade, along with its commander, first saw action during the controversial
Battle of Loos in September, where Nickalls was, according to the brigade's war diary for 26 September, the first day of the battle: In an appendix to the diary: Brigadier-General Norman Tom Nickalls has no known grave, his body not having been recovered. He is commemorated on the
Loos Memorial. ==See also==