She was educated at Harrow High School before winning a scholarship to St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she received a degree in modern history.
During this period, the bureau was influential with sections of the Labour Party government, particularly with regard to encouraging economic and political development in British colonies.
She proposed that colonial governments should work with nationalist leaders to gain independence, but the bureau remained open to differing perspectives.
[1] Nicholson hoped to pursue her own political career, and stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in Windsor at the 1945, 1950 and 1951 United Kingdom general elections.
[1] She published one volume on the subject, The TUC overseas: the roots of policy, described in Labour's First Century as "a detailed but somewhat uncritical account".