After an association of 55 years with the Baptist witness on the island of Saint Helena the Rev Alfred Nicholls died on July the 7th, 1959, at the age of 90 years.
Alfred was born in Rochester, Kent, on the 17th June, 1869, of a Baptist family. He was the youngest of seven children. At the age of 18 he came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ and thereafter never wavered in his service to the Master.
At the age of 21 years he left with the Royal Garrison Artillery and served with the forces in India, Burma and Jamaica.
From the first day of his arrival on the island of Saint Helena he linked his witness with the Baptist cause and in the long period of this association he served as a deacon, church secretary and, on the departure of the last "imported" pastor from the island, the weight of the pastorate fell on his shoulders. This responsibility he carried with success for twenty years. In recognition of his long and valued service the Baptist Union of South Africa made him an accredited minister of the union at the assembly in 1934. In the same year he was awarded the Order of the British Empire by George V. In 1953 he was honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.
Alfred had arrived on Saint Helena as a sergeant later having purchased his release he entered the police and rose to the position of Superintendent of Police on the island. It was on his retirement from this post that he became the self-supporting pastor of the island church. During his long stay on the island Alfred bore a faithful and consistent witness for Christ.
In 1906 he married Miss Caroline Jamieson, an islander born of English parents and for many years their home was a centre of Christian activity in Jamestown.
An unfortunate schism in the church in 1938 was the cause of much sorrow to Alfred and for twenty years he was virtually an "outsider", but happily, in 1957 this breach was healed and the Rev Alfred Nicholls once more found happy fellowship with his own people.
Written by: Syd Hudson-Reed
