Renton Nicholson
He then opened a series of unsuccessful businesses that often catered to the lower classes of London, selling cigars, wine and jewels.
A public feud later erupted between Nicholson and another editor, Barnard Gregory, who published a competing paper.
[2] He was taught by Henry Butter, a well-respected author who had written a much-read treatise on teaching spelling.
Though the feud with Gregory increased the circulation of The Town, the paper's sales diminished after the case was dismissed.
Its first issue carried an editorial written by Nicholson under the pseudonym of "Censor", which attacked The Town for its immorality.
[1] In 1842 Nicholson opened the Garrick's Head and Town Hotel on Bow Street in the Covent Garden district of London.
The hotel eventually became a popular location frequented by many London residents, including city clerks and gamblers.
[5] After purchasing the hotel, Nicholson hired Archibald Henning to paint large portraits on the side of the building, hoping that they would lure curious pedestrians inside.
These portraits depicted showed well-known people, such as The Duke of Wellington and Alfred d'Orsay, attending events at the hotel.
The performances featured Nicholson posing as "The Chief Lord Baron" and holding mock trials.
These trials often focused on well-known scandals or controversial issues and were known for humorous repartee, crude jokes, and biting satire.
[1] In 1843 Nicholson purchased a 12-acre (0.049 km2) rural sporting arena in Chelsea, London, on the banks of the River Thames, that had opened eleven years earlier.
[10] In 1846 Nicholson began showing poses plastiques,[1] a form of tableau vivant, at Garrick's Head and Town Hotel.
The acts, which later became a common form of entertainment in London, featured models reenacting a work of art.
[12] Nicholson stood near the models as they posed and delivered a lecture on art to the audience, most of whom drank and smoked cigars during the performance.
He advertised the events as "representing Pictures from the Manchester Art Galleries and scenes from all the Principal Tragedies, Dramas, Operas".
Many of the titles of the acts suggested that nudity would be on display, such as "The Sultan's Favourite returning from the bath" or "Cupid and Psyche".
[13] One of the few existing depictions of an event shows two women onstage, unclothed except for a loose skirt below the waist of one, and a sash wrapped between the legs and over the shoulder of the other.
A writer visiting from France published a critical account of the show, characterising it as a pretentious form of entertainment.
[15] After Nicholson moved his events to the Coal Hole tavern, the management officially stopped allowing women into the audience in order to fight this perception.
He soon encountered financial difficulties, which prompted him to begin performing and receiving a regular salary rather than owning and managing a venue.
[1] Nicholson remained at the Coal Hole tavern until 1858, when he moved to the Cider Cellar on Maiden Lane.
[1] This was a topic that many newspapers were devoting a significant amount of coverage to at that time, and the address given by Nicholson's primary lawyer was later printed and sold well in London.
The book covered a variety of events in his life, describing debtors' prisons as well as the Judge and Jury Society.
[1] Though he often struggled to stay solvent, Nicholson frequently gave charitably to many poor residents of London.
