Family and Early Life
Poulson came from a strict Methodist family and inherited a strong faith which stressed the importance of self-help. He did badly at school and at Leeds College of Art but nevertheless was articled to a Pontefract firm of architects, Garside and Pennington. He left to start his own Architecture practice with financial backing from his father. He never became a formally qualified architect, later claiming "I was too busy to complete my examinations". Poulson soon began to cultivate contacts in the local borough council and officials at the larger West Riding county authority. Work soon began to arrive and Poulson told friends that he was "on his way". Poulson also became politically involved with the National Liberals, although never let political differences stop him from making friends who were in charge of commissioning public buildings.
Read more about this topic: John Poulson
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