Diaries, documents and research notes concerning the family of Annie Margaret Angus, especially her father Major William James Anderson. Materials consist mostly of diaries (1885-1924) of Major Anderson, and his wife Laura, which cover his career in the British Army and the family's efforts in establishing a fruit orchard in the Kettle Valley/Rock Creek district of British Columbia. They also include papers regarding W.J. Anderson's military career, family history, Annie M. Angus' correspondence and research notes regarding here family's history, and her annotations and notes on her father's diaries. Also included are two family photograph albums which have been transferred to Visual Records.
Annie Margaret Angus was the eldest daughter of Major William James Anderson and his wife Laura. Born in Turkey, she was raised in Scotland and India before her family emigrated to the Rock Creek valley of British Columbia in 1909. There they worked at establishing a fruit ranch until her father's death in 1915 and the abandonment of the orchard for Vancouver in 1919. Annie Anderson attended the University of British Columbia from 1919-1923 and married Dr. Henry Angus in 1924. Following his retirement from the faculty of the University of B.C. in 1956, where he served as the dean of Graduate Studies, Dr. Angus was appointed Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission. Mrs. Angus was active in community affairs, serving as a member of the Vancouver School Board from 1952-1958, and on the Senate of the University of British Columbia from 1957 to the mid-1960s. She was also active in child welfare agencies in Vancouver and at the national level.
Major William James Anderson, 1860-1915, the father of Annie Margaret Angus, was the son of Colonel John Cumming Anderson of the Royal Engineers in India. As a young officer J.C. Anderson had been in charge of the defences of Lucknow during the Sepoy Mutiny. W.J. Anderson was also first cousin (on his father's side) to Alexander Caulfield Anderson, a chief factor with the Hudson's Bay Company in British Columbia. W.J. Anderson was raised in India and England and was commissioned in the British Army in 1882. He was posted in India, Crete and Turkey, where he served as a military consul from 1899 to 1903. In 1900 he married Laura Elsworth who was born in Wisconsin in 1870, and taught at an American missionary school for girls in Turkey where she and William Anderson met. With the rank of Major, William Anderson retired from the army in 1909. The family then emigrated to British Columbia to establish a fruit ranch in the Kettle Valley/Rock Creek district on land purchased from the "Kettle Valley Irrigated Fruit Lands Company". In 1915 Major Anderson was recalled to active duty and was killed while serving at Gallipoli on October 19, 1915. Laura Anderson was forced to abandon the orchard in 1919 and to move to Vancouver.