Allardyce Nicoll

Who was Allardyce Nicoll?

John Ramsay Allardyce Nicoll was a British literary scholar and teacher.

Allardyce Nicoll was born and educated in Glasgow. He became a lecturer at King's College London in 1920 and took the chair of English at East London College in 1923. In 1933 he went to Yale University as professor of the history of drama and dramatic criticism and chair of the drama department. He established a strong graduate programme in theatre history. Around 1943-45 he performed war work at the British embassy in Washington. From 1945 to 1961 he headed the English Department at the University of Birmingham; from 1951 to 1961 he was also founding director of the Shakespeare Institute at Birmingham.

His major work was his six-volume History of English Drama, 1660-1900, published as separate volumes starting in 1923, and reissued as a set in 1952-59. He also wrote many other books on English drama.

He was married twice and had no children.