William Henry Snyder Nickerson


Major-General William Henry Snyder Nickerson, , was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Victoria Cross

Nickerson was a 25 years old lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps, of the British Army, attached to the Mounted Infantry during the Second Boer War when his actions at Wakkerstroom led to the award of the Victoria Cross. His citation reads:

Further military service

Following the end of the war in South Africa in June 1902, Nickerson returned to the United Kingdom on board the SS Soudan, arriving in Southampton in September that year. He was then posted to Egypt.
He later achieved the rank of major general after service in World War I and was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the RAMC in 1933.

Personal life

His family had returned to England when he was a child and he was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, Manchester Grammar School and Owen's College, the forerunner of the University of Manchester graduating in medicine in 1896. He joined the RAMC in 1898.
His grave is in the private burial ground at his home in Cour, Kintyre, Scotland.