John Standish

Origin and History

A once popular dessert apple, raised in 1873 by John Standish of Ascot, Berkshire and introduced many years later at the 1922 Imperial Fruit Show by Isaac House & Sons of Bristol, where it achieved an RHS Award of Merit. It was grown commercially on a small scale until World War II.

Fruit

The fruit is conical, with a very pale, shiny skin, largely covered in bright red streaks and flecked with russet. The pale russet lenticels are very conspicuous. It has crisp, white, juicy flesh with a firm texture and a fresh, fruity flavour.

Picking, Storing and Using

The fruit is ripe for picking in October and stores until February. The skin can be a little chewy, so the fruit is best eaten peeled.

Growth, Flowering and Pollination

The trees have a vigorous, upright growth habit, withstand cold conditions and crop heavily.

John Standish is self-sterile; good pollination partners include Allington Pippin, Howgate Wonder and Red Victoria.

Bagshot Park, Ascot 1880

John Standish was a Yorkshireman, born in 1814. He served his gardening apprenticeship at Bowood, Wiltshire, where his father was forester to the Marquess of Lansdowne, and John later became foreman at Bagshot Park near Ascot. In the 1830s he set up his own nursery at Bagshot, where he became famous for breeding fuchsias, rhododendrons and calceolarias. John Standish died in 1875 two years after raising his eponymous apple.

Whilst many of our trees were supplied by Messrs. William Brown of Stamford, John Standish did not appear in Brown's catalogue and seems likely to have come from the smaller Goddards nursery on what is now Roman Bank.