Jim Nicholas

James Joachim Nicholas MiD (17 November 1890 – 20 September 1917) was an Australian rules footballer who played with University in the Victorian Football League. He was killed in action, in Belgium, during World War I.

Family
The son of William John Nicholas, and Sarah Nicholas, née Joachim, James Joachim Nicholas was born at Picola, Victoria on 17 November 1890.

Education
He was educated at Brighton Grammar School. In 1906, aged 15, he passed the matriculation examination.

He studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, graduating as Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.) in 1911, and as Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) in 1913.

Medicine
Following his graduation, and before his military service, he practised medicine jointly with Dr. Richard Horace Gibbs in Colac, Victoria.

Football
A regular player for the university's Metropolitan Amateur Football Association (MAFA) team, he played one VFL match for the university team, as a last minute inclusion in a team badly depleted in numbers, in the round 12 match, against Richmond Football Club, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on 8 July 1911.

Military service
He served in the Australian Medical Corps during the First World War but was killed in action at the Menin Road Ridge, aged 26, on 20 September 1917, while serving at the Passchendaele front.