People Australia

Worthy Worthington George Arthur (Pisé) Nicholls (1808-1849) bricklayer, journalist, Socialist, trade union official and carrier

[Details from Ancestry.com: Birth 17 December 1808 at Bermondsey, London, England, son of George Nichols (b.1782) and Susanna, née Marshall (b.1779). Marriage: 4 October 1929 at St Leonards, Shoreditch, London, to Mary Palfrey (1800-1892). They had five daughters and three sons.] Death: 13 December 1849 at Adelaide, South Australia. Religion: Anglican. 

• Was a bricklayer, water carrier and journalist in Adelaide.
• An Owenite socialist and avowed advocate of workers' interests generally, he was a frequent speaker at protest meetings in the early and mid 1840s, although not a recognised leader commanding widespread respect in the same way as George Wells.
• In 1843 he converted from socialism to Christianity, a move coinciding with his refusal to abide by combination amongst fellow water carriers. Subsequently assaulted by three other water carriers for undercutting cartage rates and when he prosecuted the three, an 'unknown assailant' shot his horse.
• By 1845, however, these differences were resolved and in 1845-1846, as secretary of the Adelaide Water Carriers Society, Nicholls was leading efforts to regulate wages.
• Subsequently became an independent carrier transporting goods and people to and from the Burra Burra mines.
• Cause of death [Coroner]:”suicide by taking laudanum while temporarily insane”.
• The judgement of the Adelaide press on him was severe: “his life was a long-continued rebellion against a God of goodness; and oh! what an awfully instructive homily on that evil career was the end of the Infidel.”
• His widow denied that she had been “left in comfortable circumstances by her late husband . . . his section was mortgaged, and . . . she and her seven children are wholly unprovided for”.

Sources
Michael Quinlan, 'Early Trade Union Organisation in Australia: Three Australian Colonies 1829-1850', Labour and Industry, 1 (1) January 1987, pp 61-95; M. Quinlan & M Gardiner, 'Early Trade Union Organisation in Australia: Three Australian Colonies 1829-1850', Labour and Industry, 1 (1) January 1987, pp 61-95; Adelaide Examiner, 29 March, 8 April 1843.