1955 Fredericton Encaenia
Nicholson, Leonard Hanson
Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
Image
Image Caption
L to R: Colin B. Mackay, Leonard Hanson Nicholson
Second Image Caption
Source: UA PC-4 no.5ao
Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 1955
LEONARD HANSON NICHOLSON
to be Doctor of Laws
Good wine needs no bush; nor do the Mounted Police need an orator. If Leonard Nicholson joined as a constable the force of which he is now Chief, no glowing periods will better this plain statement. How, then, shall we discover the man behind the magnificent self-effacement of the Service?
Shall I point out that he is New Brunswick born and married to a New Brunswick lady? Or that he is a member of several august national councils and committees, and last year commanded the Canadian rifle team at Bisley? That he curls and (tell it not in Gath) plays a grand game of poker?
No, the flames of war must be out torch. Their murky beams illumine a lone, gaunt figure huddled in his jeep high on a bleak Italian hillside -- a figure that is tirelessly watching through the dank night mists as convoy after convoy of 3-ton trucks noses its slow and serpentine way, ghosts through a ghostly valley below.
Colonel Nicholson -- to give him his wartime rank -- was Assistant Provost Marshal to the 1st Canadian Corps. And the 1st Canadian Corps was part of Field Marshal Montgomery's battle-scarred Eighth Army.
There were some 15,000 vehicles in the Canadian Corps. Their movements had to be planned by day that they might execute them by night. For the chief planner the responsibility was at times fantastic and the margin for sleep zero. What is the character of the man who could take the prolonged strain and come out smiling? Who could drive his staff as he drove himself, and retain unbroken his popularity with every rank?
First, there must be the keen mind endowed with superb administrative ability. Second, an incredible capacity for work coupled with a genius for delegating authority. Third, a great tolerance for the mistakes of others, and finally a crowning sense of humour.
Your Honour, Mr. President, we have before us a great Canadian, the secret of whose greatness resides in three simple words, as straight and as forthright as the man himself: Discipline through Example.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
LEONARD HANSON NICHOLSON
to be Doctor of Laws
Good wine needs no bush; nor do the Mounted Police need an orator. If Leonard Nicholson joined as a constable the force of which he is now Chief, no glowing periods will better this plain statement. How, then, shall we discover the man behind the magnificent self-effacement of the Service?
Shall I point out that he is New Brunswick born and married to a New Brunswick lady? Or that he is a member of several august national councils and committees, and last year commanded the Canadian rifle team at Bisley? That he curls and (tell it not in Gath) plays a grand game of poker?
No, the flames of war must be out torch. Their murky beams illumine a lone, gaunt figure huddled in his jeep high on a bleak Italian hillside -- a figure that is tirelessly watching through the dank night mists as convoy after convoy of 3-ton trucks noses its slow and serpentine way, ghosts through a ghostly valley below.
Colonel Nicholson -- to give him his wartime rank -- was Assistant Provost Marshal to the 1st Canadian Corps. And the 1st Canadian Corps was part of Field Marshal Montgomery's battle-scarred Eighth Army.
There were some 15,000 vehicles in the Canadian Corps. Their movements had to be planned by day that they might execute them by night. For the chief planner the responsibility was at times fantastic and the margin for sleep zero. What is the character of the man who could take the prolonged strain and come out smiling? Who could drive his staff as he drove himself, and retain unbroken his popularity with every rank?
First, there must be the keen mind endowed with superb administrative ability. Second, an incredible capacity for work coupled with a genius for delegating authority. Third, a great tolerance for the mistakes of others, and finally a crowning sense of humour.
Your Honour, Mr. President, we have before us a great Canadian, the secret of whose greatness resides in three simple words, as straight and as forthright as the man himself: Discipline through Example.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
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