The 'wonderful' Sheffield doctor who became a 'one woman advice bureau' for her patients

Originally from Coventry, Dr Nicholls moved to Sheffield in 1951 and had surgeries throughout Attercliffe Common, Carbrook, Grenoside, Wincobank, Fox Hill and Parson Cross.

She worked tirelessly for her patients up until 1989 – often going above and beyond her role as a doctor by lending money to struggling families or offering advice and support to those in need at any time of the day.

Former patient Jim Wainwright, 90, said the people of Sheffield owe a ‘great deal’ to Dr Nicholls, who sadly passed away in 2005.

“Bringing my young family up in the 1950s she was my local doctor and we had a mentally handicapped daughter,” Mr Wainwright said.

“Even though she had a family with children of a young age she would respond to any emergency day or night.

“I can recollect being in her surgery on Browning Road. With the surgery full of people she would appear at the door and say ‘please be patient I have to respond to someone needing help’. Later she would arrive back and start treating everyone.

“Before the onset of the surgery advice centres, Dr Nicholls was the person to help with your problems. Everybody knew her, she was like the local advice bureau. She lent money to people who were struggling to feed their families and even bought sports equipment for the newly opened youth club on Keats Road.

“There are many more things I could describe to prove what a wonderful doctor she was.”

Born in 1915, she began training as a doctor during World War Two and would often travel between Coventry and the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, where she lived at the time.

She later qualified in 1941 at a time when, according to Dr Nicholls, the war was going “very badly” for us.

Hoping to specialise in paediatrics, she moved to Victoria Children’s Hospital in Hull and just a year later, in September 1942, joined the army as a medical officer.

Dr Nicholls spent some time working in various parts of Britain before being posted to India – recalling her time there for the People’s War site shortly before her death.

She remained overseas after the end of the Second World War, giving birth to her oldest son in the Far East in September 1946.

Then, around a year later, she returned to the UK and left the army as a Captain having served just two months shy of five years service.

Sadly, however, little else is known about her life outside of Sheffield.

“I was made redundant by British Gas in 1990, and after a few months without work, me and my brother set up a little handyman gardening business,” Mr Wainwright added.

“We built up quite a workload, but I was looking for further work and I saw an advert in The Star for a gardener and handyman so I turned up and it was Dr Nicholls, it was such a coincidence.

“I worked for her for more than 10 years and eventually as she was getting older I used to take her shopping and helped her out.

“She eventually became so ill that she passed away. After that, her family gave me her life story.

“She was a pleasure to work for and a very accomplished gardener in her own right. She was also very outspoken about events concerning Britain, women’s rights, immigration - every possible topic.

“This story, I hope, may bring back a few happy memories to the people of Sheffield.

“What a wonderful lady and a wonderful servant to the people of this city.”

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