Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicol, John
NICOL or NICOLL, JOHN (fl. 1590–1667), diarist, was, according to statements in his ‘Diary,’ born and brought up in Glasgow, the year of his birth being probably 1590. He became writer to the signet and notary public in Edinburgh, where he seems to have enjoyed the confidence of the covenanting party. Not improbably he was the John Nicoll who was nominated as clerk to the general assembly at Glasgow in November 1638, when Sir Archibald Johnstone [q. v.] of Warriston was elected. Wodrow, who in his ‘Sufferings of the Kirk’ makes large use of the manuscript of Nicoll, described it in the list of his papers as ‘The Journals of John Nicol, writer to the signet, containing some account of our Scots Kings, with some Extracts as to China and the West Indies, and a Chronicle from Fergus the ffirst to 1562. And an Abbreviāt of Matters in Scotland from that time to 1637; from which it contains full and large accounts of all the Occurrences in Scotland, with the Proclamations and Public Papers every year. Vol. i. from 1637 to 1649, original; vol. ii. from 1650 to 1657.’ Vol. i. has been lost. Vol. ii. was purchased for the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, and was printed by the Bannatyne Club in 1836, under the title ‘A Diary of Public Transactions and other Occurrences, chiefly in Scotland, from June 1650 to June 1667.’ The ‘Diary’ seems to have been composed partly from notes of what happened within his immediate experience, and partly from accounts in the newspapers and public intelligencers of the time. His political bias varies with the changes of the government, the proceedings and conduct of those in power being always placed in the best light. He probably died not long after 1667.
[David Laing's Preface to Bannatyne edition of the Diary.]