View entry
Name: ANGUS, John Archibald 'Archie' MC (Capt.)
Nee: cousin of Jimmy Angus
Birth Date: 7 Jan 1888 Newcastle upon Tyne
Death Date: 3 Sep 1975 Margate, Natal, S. Africa
First Date: 1921
Profession: Advocate, solicitor
Area: Plateau - 'Bundeni' farm, Hut - Lawyer, Red 22 - Hoey's Bridge
Married: 1. In Castle Ward, Northumberland 23 Jan 1926 1926 Frieda Gertrude Donnell b. 30 June 1901 Watford, d. 8 Jan 1927 Kenya (died after giving birth); 2. Madge Lavington
Children: Margaret Anne (Raby) (1 Jan 1927 Kenya-21 June 1997 Taunton)
Book Reference: KFA, Nicholson Memoirs, Hut, Red 22, SS
General Information:
He was a lawyer at Eldoret and Kitale up to about 1960. Source - David Nicholson
Nicholson Memoirs - He had trained as a lawyer and then joined up in 1914 for WW1. England after 1918 didn't seem to have the right job. He came out on the 'Garth Castle' with the first lot of "soldier settlers" who were offered land free if they would build up a farm and help to develop the country. ..... Archie Angus was allocated 'Bundeni' in the Trans Nzoia in 1922 ....... Archie cleared the farm, built a house of mud and wattle with grass thatch, and a brick stable for his horses to prevent horse sickness. He grew a crop of maize and Archie then went on leave to England and Jimmy Angus, a cousin from Northumberland, looked after the farm. While Archie Angus was in England he suggested that Hubert Nicholson join him as the Kenya climate would be much better for his health. Hubert was wounded and gassed and left in a shell hole in WW1, rescued by Canadians and taken to a French Hospital and later developed TB. ........ On Archie Angus's second overseas trip, in 1926, he married Frieda Donnell and Jimmy Angus was asked to build a better house. Frieda helped a great deal on the farm. Mrs Dreyer in Eldoret ran a maternity home but Archie wanted the baby to be born on the farm and he organised for Doctor Arnell and a nurse from Kitale to attend the birth. The baby, Margaret Ann, arrived early; the doctor came but nothing was sterilized and tragically Frieda died of septicaemia. Margaret Ann was taken to her grandparents in UK - Mr and Mrs Donnell and their daughter Rita brought her up. Archie gave up the farm and took up law again and practised in Kampala working for Ishmael, the best and most crooked lawyer in Kampala. He stood in for Cecil Hoey on Legco in Nairobi and was also on the committee that started the KFA. He worked in Eldoret as a solicitor and married Madge Lavington, the marriage lasting for 3 years. In WW2 Archie joined up and went to North Africa (Judge Advocate's Dept.) and returned to Mombasa as Magistrate. After the war he set up as a solicitor in Kitale and bought 600 acres of the foothills of the Cheranganis. He built an attractive wooden house from trees felled on the farm. He retired near Mount Elgon and in the late 60s moved to Natal in S. Africa. Hugh Sarre bought 'Bundeni', Archie Angus' farm.
Hut also has A.J. Angus 1920 Karen
Red 22 also has A.J. Angus, Ngong
Red 22 - President, Trans Nzoia Farmers' Association - Capt. J.A. Angus
Soldier Settlement Scheme after WW1 - Class B - Capt. J.A. Angus, MC, St. Romans House, Sandyford Road, Newcastle-on-Tyne - Farm 221
KFA - Present at 1922 meeting at Soy to discuss how best to form a co-operative society. A solicitor who later took over the Chairmanship of the Plateau Maize Growers' Association and contributed a valuable legal and business experience.
Gazette - 26/9/1923 - Voters Register - Plateau North - Capt. John Archibald Angus, MC, Farmer, Farm 221, PO Hoeys Bridge
Red 25 - Capt. J.A. Angus MC, Vice-President, Trans Nzoia Farmers' Association
KAD 1922 has Capt. J.A. Angus, Hoey's Bridge, President, Trans Nzoia Farmers' Association.
Red 31 - Capt. J.A. Angus, Hoey's Bridge
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Uasin Gishu Voters Roll