King Angus

The location of this photo showing John King Angus’s wagon is uncertain. Photo courtesy Jim Butterick.

John King Angus, who was born in Oulton in 1853, ran a market garden business on 8 acres of land next to the Nookin. Some produce was grown in large greenhouses on the property and the rest in nearby fields. John King Angus was helped by his wife, Annie, and later by his son, John Kenneth King Angus, who was born in 1902.

A favourite pastime of generations of schoolboys in Oulton was to raid the Angus’s fields for fruit and vegetables. Locals who were caught were usually given a thick ear but often the police were called in if the thieving appeared more organised.

In August 1902 ten year old Sam Taylor from Calverley Road and eight year old John Willie Taylor, who lived on Quarry Hill, were charged with destroying growing peas. At the West Riding Court in Leeds John King Angus testified that he had seen them leaving his gardens with the linings of their trousers packed full of peas. He estimated the damage was worth 2 shillings.  He had warned the same lads before and said he had brought the case as an example. They were ordered to pay the damages and court costs.

The market garden appears to have been established by John King Angus’s grandfather, John Angus, who came from Aberdeen towards the end of the 18th century. He married Elizabeth King from Swillington, probably in 1797.

Albert Butterick, who went on to become a delivery driver for Bentley’s brewery worked for the Angus’s for a short time when he left school in 1915.