 Nicholson attended Barnstaple School in Barnstaple, Devonshire, the same school John Gay had attended in the 1690s.Arthur Thomas Nicholson died during World War I, and in 1919 Caroline moved her twin sons to Canada, joining her older son Harry, who had settled on a farm near Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan.After graduating high school Nicholson attended Saskatoon Normal School, and in 1922 began his career as a school teacher in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan.