Michael John Nicoll
English naturalist
Michael John Nicoll (29 September 1880, in Bepton – 31 October 1925, in Leeds) was an English ornithologist and zoo director at Giza who worked on the birds of Egypt. He accompanied Lord Crawford on several voyages to explore bird life and wrote a book on his experiences. He also published one of the earliest comprehensive works on the birds of Egypt - the Handlist of the Birds of Egypt.
Biography
Nicoll born to Reverend C.A. Nicoll in Bepton, Sussex. He grew up at St Leonard's-on-Sea studying at the local school and moved to a farm in Brightling where he took an interest in the natural world. He began to observe, shoot, skin and preserve birds in Sussex. He was a friend of Thomas Parkin and was later helped by P.L. Sclater who elected him in 1902 to the membership of the British Ornithologists' Union. He travelled on an expedition with Lord Crawford aboard the latter's yacht Valhalla. He wrote a book on this in 1908 - Three Voyages of a Naturalist. In 1906 he moved to Egypt to work at the Giza zoological gardens as an assistant to Captain S.S. Flower.
“Michael John Nicoll” enters the record as english naturalist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Michael, John and Nicoll can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Michael John Nicoll” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Michael, John and Nicoll provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17382565. VIAF identifies the subject as 63954942. The Library of Congress control number is nr2004002393. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1880, 1925, 1902 and 1908.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Michael John Nicoll”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Michael John Nicoll primary sources, Michael John Nicoll archive and Michael research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Michael John Nicoll”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Michael John Nicoll” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.