George Gibb Nicholson

George Gibb Nicholson (1875–1948), often referred to as G. G. Nicholson, was an English-born Australian philologist and professor of French. He was the inaugural McCaughey Professor of French at University of Sydney.

Early life and education George Nicholson was born on 20 September 1875 in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, England. His parents were Donald Nicholson, a cashier, and Euphemia Scott, née Gibb, who had at one time run a private school in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The family emigrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in February 1884 and settling in Launceston, Tasmania in April of that year. His father took up a position as a bank manager working for the National Bank of Tasmania and his mother was appointed as principal of the Launceston Training College, which the young Nicholson also attended as a student. George Nicholson studied at the University of Sydney from which he graduated in 1899, achieving first-class honours in English, French and German and receiving the University Medal, Professor Anderson's prize and Professor McCallum's prize for English.

Nicholson next attended Balliol College, Oxford. His studies there included law and he graduated in 1902 with a B.C.L. degree.

Nicholson was an "exacting" teacher who was known for enforcing academic rigour, a habit that some have interpreted as shading into "linguistic pedantry". and in calling for more resources and staff in the modern languages section of the teachers colleges.

He personally lobbied for funds to promote the teaching of French. This included a successful call in 1922 for French government scholarships which would enable Sydney University "students to travel to Paris ... to continue their studies".

During World War II he worked briefly as chief censor. and was appointed Professor Emeritus. He was succeeded as McCaughey Professor by Ian Henning.

Legacy Nicholson's professorial appointment was the first to a modern language chair in any Australian university, (together with colleagues such as Eban Gowrie Waterhouse, Professor of German at Sydney University), French and German became more widely taught both at the secondary and tertiary levels and chairs of French were for the first time established in major Australian universities including the University of Melbourne (1938) and University of Adelaide (1944).

Although a proponent of the translation-grammar method of teaching, he also promoted the importance of modern languages as living languages in which the spoken word and oral proficiency must also be mastered.

In a 1991 review of Nicholson's work, methods and influence, Monash University's Professor Wallace Kirsop concluded: "At a time when one can wonder whether traditional scholarship will have to look for survival outside universities, the unbending position of Nicholson... is a tremendous comfort and inspiration."

Personal life In 1905 Nicholson married Geneva-born Marguerite Marie Danuser (1874–1961).

From 1905 and for the rest of his life he resided with his family in the Sydney suburb of Hunters Hill.

He died on 22 December 1948.

Awards C.B.E. (1920) Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (1934)

Select bibliography A Practical Introduction to French Phonetics for the Use of English-Speaking Students and Teachers (London: Macmillan, 1909) Passages for Translation into French and German (co-authored with C. J. Brennan) (London: Oxford University Press, 1914) Recherches Philologiques Romanes (Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1921) Etudes étymologiques (Paris: Macon, Protat, 1929) Adverbes romanes issus de conjonctions (Paris: Macon, 1930) Un nouveau principe d'étymologie romane (Paris: E. Droz, 1936)