Eric Johnson

Mr Johnson left the army in 1920 at the age of 23. He had no concept of a career and so at his father’s suggestion decided to take up gardening and nursery work.

Eric wrote to several nurseries including King Acre Nurseries, Hereford, James Backhouse Nurseries of York, Mack and Miln of Darlington, and fisher Son and Sibray of Handsworth Sheffield.

Eric eventually went to Handsworth in the spring of 1921, it was a large tree and shrub nursery of 250 acres and had been trading since the 18th Century, where they were Seedmen and Nurserymen to the Royal Family. The wage was just 35 shillings for a 50-hour working week which just covered lodging expenses. Johnson was a general nursery worker, hardwood grafting, layering, budding fruit trees and roses etc, and in winter, lifting all the different kinds of trees and shrubs for orders.

He went on to be in charge of a lifting gang and handed in his notice when his pay wasn’t increased alongside increasing responsibility.

In the meantime, Eric had become engaged to a girl whose family owned several malt kilns including one near Cattal Station. At the Cattal Maltkiln were two cottages, one empty and the other used by the foreman maltster. Mr Johnson’s future father-in-law suggested that he could go and live there to look after the gardens, he agreed to this.

Mr Johnson

Mr  Johnson started the business at Cattal station with minimum assets and a small piece of land bearing a couple of dozen fruit trees on his father-in-law to be’s land. 

Mr Johnson would produce a range of vegetables, fruit, and garden plants that he would sell directly from home and at Wetherby Market. As soon as he could he began growing a few shrubs including privet, lonicera, roses etc and went on to rent 2 acres in a neighbouring field. 

Mr Johnson

• 1923 – Eric Johnson married Mary.

• The business had little capital to start with, Eric’s wife was a big help as they worked all hours.  Eventually, Eric bought a model T Ford lorry and started going to other markets such as Knaresborough and Otley to sell.

• Around the same time, a few dutchmen found Mr Johnson and he did a little importing. As trade increased, he took on another three men.

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John Richardson

• 1937 – John Richardson is born on the 13th of September at a nursing home in Horsforth near Leeds some way from his family home in Oulton.

Mr Johnson 

In the Second World War, Eric Johnson had to stop growing ornamentals and concentrate on growing vegetables; he was left with one employee. He was given a commission with the Home Guard, with a platoon to organize eventually reaching some 60 members, covering the local area from Walshford to as far as Nun Monkton towards York. Mr Johnson was fully occupied until the end of the war, in ‘Dad’s Army.’

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John Richardson

John remembers being about four and having to respond to air-raid siren warnings. He would hide under the dining table or head for a shelter that a neighbour had built in a bedroom.

“Despite living through the war for six years, in reality, I knew little about it. My family’s careful management of resources meant it had little physical impact on us and it wasn’t until I was about 12, and friends told me about their lost relatives and bombing raids, that I understood more about what happened.”

1945-1950

Mr Johnson 

• As time progressed towards the end of the war, Mr Johnson bought 10.5 acres of land in Whixley with a £1,000 loan from his father.

• Some of the grass was ploughed by a local contractor and Mr Johnson cropped it with Brussel sprouts, marrows etc for the first year.

• As time progressed Mr Johnson began to crop with roses, ornamental trees and shrubs, ploughing out another acre or so each year.

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John Richardson

John started Rothwell Haigh Primary school when he was five, at the age of seven he passed the entrance exam to the junior section of Wakefield Grammer School, he stayed there until he left school just before he was seventeen. John particularly enjoyed woodwork and sport.

John’s long association with the village of Whixley had already begun as his Uncle Bill owned the garage whom he and his family would visit frequently.

John spent his childhood living in the Oulton and Rothwell area with his parents, sister Susan and younger brother Robert.

John’s grandparents owned Green End Farm in Carlton, near Wakefield where John spent much of his childhood. This is where his love for the great outdoors truly began.

 Mr Johnson 

• With a lot of hard work doing mostly retail trade, work gradually increased, and Mr Johnson had to employ extra staff.

• Mr Johnsons first recorded commercial order was from the Forestry Commission, where 100,000 one year beech seedlings were sold.

• Soon after the large order, Mr Johnson’s accountant advised turning the business into a limited company, so E R Johnson (Nurseries) Limited was born.

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John Richardson

• 1951 – John’s dad, Architect George Kenneth Richardson, designed a bungalow for his in-laws who wanted to downsize from their original farmhouse in Carlton. John and his family rejuvenated the farmhouse and moved in, giving  John daily access to the farm, which became the focus of his life.

The farm had a mixture of animals, cereal crops, a range of vegetables and 200 acres of field-grown rhubarb, which was part of the ‘rhubarb triangle’ in West Yorkshire.

John enjoyed going to Leeds wholesale and vegetable markets with the lorry during school holidays, he would also go to markets in Birmingham and Manchester.

  The farm is still owned by the Dobson family and is currently run by Simon Dobson. It is now a principal supplier of fresh vegetables to ASDA and Morrisons in the north of England.

• 1954 – At the age of 16, John took his O-levels, passing Geography, French, arithmetic, English language and woodwork. John applied for a one-year course at Askham Bryan College, but the principal suggested he apply to Writtle College in Essex for a two-year diploma course.

• 1955– After a year working on the farm, John started at Writtle college at 18. He was the youngest on the course out of 24 men and two women.

• 1957 –  On leaving college, John wanted wider experience in vegetable and salad production and joined a firm owned by one of the Bean brothers at Brough in East Yorkshire. He rented two overgrown allotments at no charge. Once he cleaned them up, he grew spring onions which he sent to Hull market.

•  1958 – John moved to Surrey in September to work on the specialist market garden of F A Secrett Limited for three years. John had six months lorry driving to Covent Garden wholesale vegetable market. He would have to hand load either 5 tons of spent hops from the Guinness brewery in North London or horse manure from the Royal Mews beneath Buckingham Palace on his return journey.

• 1961 – John joined Fisons as a commercial representative for horticulture in Scotland, promoting fertilizers to growers of all commercial horticultural crops.

• John proposed to Dorothy at Christmas 1961; they bought their first house four miles from Dorothy’s hometown of Boness.

• 1962 – John married Dorothy on September 8th 1962, in Boness, Scotland.

• John was doing exceptionally well in his sales career, winning a company prize for exceeding the target by the highest percentage (122%).

• 1963 – John’s wife Dorothy gives birth to Andrew Richardson at Edinburgh Western General.

• John had known for some time that sales was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his career; he missed the practical work. John’s Uncle Bill who owned the garage in the village of Whixley where Mr Johnsons nursery was and told him that Mr Johnson wanted to retire as he was now 67 and his wife 70.  John expressed his interest. 

• During the summer of 1963, John and his wife Dorothy visited the nursery 16 times from Scotland. An agreement was made on Johns purchase of the business with the asking price being £18,000; John set about raising this amount, selling his and Dorothy’s house, getting a loan from his parents and grandparents loan and repayment after five years to Mr Johnson. Dorothy and John took over on May 1st 1964, and moved into a caravan on site. 

• At the time of purchase, Johnsons were producing 150,000 plants annually, employed just 11 full-time staff and had a turnover of £30,500.

• Mr Johnson built a bungalow on the part of the nurseries land as part of the sale agreement and took great interest in what went on in the firm until he died in 1988.

1965

• In the first year of May 1965, John had managed to get the turnover to £39,000 and pay off all outstanding family loans.

• Johns second son Graham Richardson was born on the 29th of May.

• Mr Johnson’s newly built bungalow was finished on the Whixley site which allowed John and his growing family to move into Broadfield house.

• John made the companies first expansion by renting the walled gardens at Myton Hall where the glasshouse was used for propagation and the outside area for crops of roses to conifers and general shrubs. 

• The purchase of the companies first tractor and planting machine revolutionised the planting process. It was also perfect for hoeing through growing crops.

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1967 

• Nursery staff started going to Wakefield Market every Saturday, it became the most lucrative market and provided cash well in advance of the delivery of plants.

• Coloured plant catalogues helped to boost sales and the nursery was opened up for people to view on weekends so they could consider their purchases for autumn delivery.

• The nursery started to advertise in the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph giving the benefit of orders being placed and paid for several months before delivery, helping cash flow.

 1969 

• Johns third son Iain Richardson was born in July.

•  Purchased 8 acres of land at Farnham.

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1970

•   Turnover reaches £77,000 with 16 staff.

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1971

• – The business dropped retail sales completely and became totally wholesale (trade only).

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1972

• John purchased the 50 acre Newlands site for £24,000 and let some of it out for farming with a view to expanding slowly but due to demand and sales promotion, we filled the whole site within 3 years. 

1972

•  E.R Johnson Limited becomes known as Johnsons of Whixley Ltd. 

• Johnsons sold the Farnham site they had bought previously.

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1979

• The first computer was introduced to the company.

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1980

•  Turnover reaches £541,000 with 26 members of staff.

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1982

•  Andrew joins the business after going to Hadlow College.

1983

 – Purchased 21 acres at Dunsforth.

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1984

•  Graham Richardson joins the business.

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1985

•  sales hit £1m for the first time.

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1988

•  Andrew takes over the sales department.

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1989 

• Purchased 29 hectacres at Ryther.

•  Sales reach £2m.

• Graham and Tracey’s first child Luke Richardson is born

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1990

•  Purchased Endfield Nursery – Graham and his wife Tracey ran the site.

•  Graham and Traceys 2nd child Robert Richardson is born.

1992

• Became the first European horticultural business of any kind to achieve BS 5750 (ISO 9000).

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1994 

• Purchased the 18-acre Cattal site.

• Graham and Tracey’s third child Eleanor Richardson is born.

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1997

• Andrew, Graham and Iain become directors.

• Iain Richardson’s first son Paul Richardson is born.

• Sales pass £4m.

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1998

• Graham and Tracey’s 4th child, Shaun Richardson is born.

1999

•  Sales pass £6m. 

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2001

•  Iain’s second son, Jonathan Richardson is born.

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2003

• Johnsons establish a cash & carry unit in Chobham, Surrey.

• Sales pass £9m.

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2004

•  John celebrates 40 years of ownership.

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2005

• Johns wife Dorethy dies after a long illness.

• John is honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the HTA and Hortweek.

2006

• Graham’s son, Luke Richardson joins the company.

•  £10m annual sales achieved.

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2007

• Andrew elected as president of the HTA and awarded the Pearson Memorial Medal.

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2008 

•  Achieved Iso 14001:2015 Environmental Management.

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2011

• Chobham plant centre closed.

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2012 

• Graham and Tracey’s daughter, Eleanor Richardson joins the company.

•  Endfield site sold.

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2013

•  Graham and Tracey’s son, Robert Richardson joins the company.

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2014

•  Graham and Tracey’s son, Shaun Richardson joins the company.

2015

•  Iain’s son Paul Richardson Joins the business in the accounts department. 

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2016 

•  Luke Richardson makes Pro Landscapers 30 under 30.

• Johnsons receive Best Family-Run Business Of The Year at the Harrogate Advertiser Awards.

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2017

• 12m + turnover achieved

• John receives a lifetime achievement award.

• The top shed was turned into a party venue to celebrate John’s 80th birthday with family, staff and friends.

• Johnsons are crowned as one of the regions best businesses.

• Johnsons install their own apiary which is looked after by  Harrogate and Ripon Beekeepers Association

2018 

• £12m + turnover for the second year.

• John presented with lifesize ‘Spirit of the Nurserymen’ by Harry Gration to celebrate his 80th birthday.

• The company make their own corporate gin ‘Quixley Gin’.

• Crowned as one of the regions best businesses for the second year running.

• Luke takes over as cash & carry manager.

• Rob takes on the position of production manager designate.

• Eleanor takes on first marketing role within the company as ‘Marketing Manager’.

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2019

• Celebrated our best year ever – £14m turnover.

• Won Family Business of the Year’ and overall ‘Business of the Year’ as well as being shortlisted for ‘Large Business of the Year’ at the York Press Business Awards.

• The cash & carry achieves its best year ever under Luke’s management (32% rise in revenue).

2020

• The business faces challenges like no other due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.

• Iain’s second son Jonathan Richardson joins the business.

• £13.2m turnover

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2021 

• Johnsons celebrate their 100th year in business – staff are given an additional days holiday, and a venue is booked to have a party at the end of the year.

•  Crowned as the region’s 20th top business.

•  Crowned runner-up for the Yorkshire region at the prestigious Family Business of the Year Awards.

• Johnsons receive Plant Healthy Accreditation

• Johnsons purchase 3 electric buggies for the first time, in trials to replace dumper trucks.

• Over £210,000 was spent on Brexit-related bureaucracy.

• 

• Edward Graham Richardson is born on the 24th of November 2021 (Luke Richardsons’ son and Graham’s first grandchild)

• 

• 15.3m turnover

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2022

• 16.5 million turnover

• 

• Staff achieved over 11 million steps and raised £700 during March for Cancer Research

• The Richardson family are blessed with two weddings during May 2022.

• Sales Director, and third-generation family member, Luke Richardson marries Alice Carrington on the 7th May 2022.

• Production Manager, and third-generation family member, Rober Richardson marries Rachael Mcpherson on the 28th of May 2022.

2023 

• 18.8 million turnover

• 7th November 2023 – ‘Johnsons of Whixley Limited’ changes name to ‘Johnsons Nurseries Limited’ and re-brands away from ‘Nurserymen’ a historical collective term that describes the profession and was not a deliberate reflection on gender within the workforce.