Georgiana Nicholls (b.1814) was the daughter of Sir George Nicholls KCB (1781–1865), an important figure in British Poor Law reform. After an early naval career serving under William Wordsworth's uncle, Captain John Wordsworth, Nicholls turned his interest to domestic matters. Living at Farndon near Newark and then Southwell, from 1819, he started the first interest bank, showed interest in schools and agricultural concerns, and developed his leading idea that it was better to abolish outdoor relief, and to rely on the ‘workhouse test’ as a means of raising the condition of the poor. At Southwell, he instituted a ‘workhouse school,’ where the children of labourers could be looked after during the day, returning to their parents at night.
In 1823 the family moved to Gloucester where George Nicholls consulted on the Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal. He became a close friend of Thomas Telford, with whom he worked on plans for the English and Bristol Channels Ship Canal. From 1826 the family relocated to Birmingham, where George Nicholls was superintendent of the branch of the Bank of England which was first established in that city, and where he established the Birmingham Savings Bank. He was also a member of the Society of Arts, and was concerned in the provision of the building for the gallery in New Street. His portrait was painted by Ramsay Richard Reinagle.
From around the 1830s the family lived in London, and Georgiana's address is given as 3 Hyde Park Street. She appears not to have married.
