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David Nicholls was one of the most distinguished priest-scholars in the Church of England’s recent history. In his early years of ministry he was part of a dynamic movement of student chaplaincy which gathered around the charismatic figure of Gordon Phillips and the Church of Christ the King in London in the early 1960s. His subsequent years, as lecturer in Politics at the University of the West Indies (Trinidad Campus), as Chaplain Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and as parish priest of Littlemore, were marked by a combination of theological depth, political seriousness and dedicated pastoral care. Within the Jubilee Group, Christendom Trust and elsewhere, he played a key role in deepening informed Christian analysis, comment and commitment in the social and political arena.
David was a political scientist of outstanding ability and influenced many political thinkers including Bernard Crick and Paul Hirst. Hirst’s Associational Democracy (1994) describes Nicholls’ The Pluralist State as the best source for the study of the English pluralist tradition. He was strongly committed to “socialism from below”. His political interests were wide, and he was one of the world authorities on the history and politics of Haiti, and of the Caribbean as a whole, being for several years President of the Society for Caribbean Studies.
The David Nicholls Memorial Trust was founded in 1997 to commemorate David’s life and work following his death in 1996. The Trust has enabled David’s extensive book collection to be kept together in a place where it is accessible to researchers. The David Nicholls Memorial Library, as the collection is called, is housed at Regent’s Park College, Oxford.
| # | Episode Title | Description | People | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Race, Rubber, Revolution: Haiti’s 1940s Revisited | Professor Matthew Smith, University College London, provides a fascinating insight into the history of Haiti during the 1940s, reassessing the role of the Société Haïtiano-Américane de Développement Agricole (SHADA) in developing rubber plantations. | Matthew J. Smith | 14 Dec 2023 | |
| 5 | David Nicholls Memorial Trust Annual Lecture 2019, Apocalypse now? Climate violence and sacrifice in and for the Caribbean | Apocalypse now? Climate violence and sacrifice in and for the Caribbean by Dr Leon-Sealey Huggins (YPCCS and Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick) | Leon-Sealey Huggins | 23 Oct 2019 | |
| 4 | David Nicholls Memorial Annual Lecture, 2018: Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch: 'The Politics of Sex and Gender in Christian History' | Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, Kt, FBA, FSA, FRHistS, gives the 2018 David Nicholls Lecture, on the theme: 'The Politics of Sex and Gender in Christian History'. | Diarmaid MacCulloch | 22 Oct 2018 | |
| 3 | David Nicholls Memorial Annual Lecture, 2017: Professor Andrew Leak, 'New' Governors of the Dew | Professor Andrew Leak, University College London, delivered the 18th David Nicholls Memorial Annual Lecture on 'New' Governors of the Dew at Regent's Park College, Oxford on Monday, 16th October 2017. | Andrew Leak | 08 Nov 2017 | |
| 2 | The David Nicholls Memorial Lecture 2016, Regent’s Park College, Oxford, 10th October 2016 | The David Nicholls Memorial Lecture - Deity and Domination: Winstanley, Blake, and David Nicholls - a contribution to the understanding of theology and secularity. | Christopher Rowland | 13 Sep 2017 | |
| 1 | Creative Commons | 'Is this what you call free?' The Caribbean after Slavery | Professor Gad Heuman, University of Warwick delivers the 2013 David Nicholls Memorial Trust Lecture. | Gad Heuman | 17 Oct 2013 |