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Richard Nicolls was born in 1625 at Great Lodge where his father was keeper, and entered the royal service at an early age.
He went with the royal family to the continent and after Charles I's execution befriended his son James, Duke of York (later James II). In 1644 he received possession of Nieuw Amsterdam in America from the Dutch and re-named it New York, where he remained as Governor for a few years.
In 1672 he joined James II at the Battle of Sole Bay where he was hit by a Dutch cannon ball and died shortly after. His memorial in the parish church commemorates his career and the cannon ball that killed him.
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