T. L. Nichols

Early life and journalism Nichols was born on December 13, 1815, in Orford, New Hampshire. He studied medicine at Dartmouth College, but left before graduating and became a radical journalist. He worked on newspapers in Lowell and New York before becoming editor and part proprietor of the Buffalonian in 1837. An article he published while editor of The New York Aurora led to a four-month prison sentence for libel. In 1840, he published Journal in Jail, an account of his imprisonment. Medical training and reform work Nichols married Mary Gove in July 1848. He completed his M.D. at New York University in 1850. Modern Times and Memnonia Nichols and Mary lived for a time in Josiah Warren's Modern Times community on Long Island. In 1856, they left and founded a "school of life", the Memnonia Institute, in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The institute failed in 1857, and the couple converted to Roman Catholicism. Nichols died there on July 8, 1901, aged 85. == The Alpha vegetarian restaurant ==

In 1879, Nichols established a vegetarian restaurant in London. It was named the Alpha and was located at 23 Oxford Street. Clerical staff from Crosse & Blackwell and members of the Food Reform Society attended the restaurant. The 1889 menu included lentil cutlets, savoury pie, and tomatoes with macaroni. The restaurant closed in the late 1890s. Nichols was also associated with the Alpha Food Reform Restaurant, managed by James Salisbury in the 1880s at 429 Oxford Street. The restaurant was attended by members of the National Food Reform Society. It closed in 1908. In 1881, London had eight vegetarian restaurants. == Influence on vegetarianism ==

Nichols influenced several people to adopt vegetarianism. Ernest Bell became vegetarian after reading Nichols's pamphlet How to Live on Sixpence a Day, and the analytical chemist A. W. Duncan was influenced by Nichols's works. Nichols also influenced practising vegetarians including Rhoda Anstey == Selected publications ==

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