Lieutenant-Colonel D.N. Nicol
1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish
7th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

The most seductive and productive vehicle may have been Donald Nicol’s coupé SS Swallow—a precursor of the Jaguar—in which the other things or object of our madness could recline with pleasure. The girls round Colchester were a lively lot.

(David Harry Walker, Lean, Wind Lean, 46)

Born on 5 February 1911, Donald Ninian Nicol was the third in his family of his name. His father (1877—1915) had died of illness while serving with the Scots Guards during the First World War and his grandfather (1843—1903) was a member of parliament for Argyllshire. After attending Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Nicol was commissioned into the Black Watch in 1931 alongside Scottish-born Canadian novelist David Harry Walker, who in his memoir recalled the diversions enjoyed by young subaltern officers while stationed in Colchester.

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