 Nicoll was born in 1899 and attended Carlisle Grammar School, Pembroke College, Oxford and University of Oxford and embarked on a colonial career in British Protectorate of North Borneo in 1921.Nicoll became Deputy Colonial Secretary of the British Crown Colony Trinidad and Tobago in 1937, the Colonial Secretary of the British Colony of Fiji from 1944 to 1949.During this time, he served as Acting Governor twice, in 1944 and 1947.