BORN BRADFORD 1886. SON OF WILLIAM JOHNSON (1858-1924) & ANN ELIZABETH TILLMAN (1857-1930). HE LIVED IN HULL FROM 1891. EDUCATED AT NEWLAND AVENUE SCHOOL, HULL, DUDLEY TRAINING COLLEGE AND BRIGHTON. WAS AN ELEMENTARY TEACHER IN SHEFFIELD (1911 CENSUS) AND BY 1914, A SCHOOL MASTER AT MELLOR SCHOOL, IN MANCHESTER.
HE MARRIED IN HULL ON 05/09/1914. HIS WIDOW, FLORENCE MABEL USHERWOOD, LIVED AT 39, ST LEONARDS ROAD, SCULCOATES LANE, HULL, (WAR PENSION ADDRESS) AND IN ELLERTON. THEIR SON, JOHN WILLIAM JOHNSON, WAS BORN IN 1916.
HE ENLISTED IN MANCHESTER, IN DECEMBER 1914. TRAINED IN WALES. POSTED TO FRANCE IN JUNE 1915. SERVED WITH THE 16TH WELSH FUSILIERS. KILLED IN ACTION, AT MAMETZ WOOD, THE SOMME, ON 11/07/1916, AGED 30. COMMEMORATED ON THE THIEPVAL MEMORIAL, SOMME, FRANCE, TO THE MISSING. HIS PLATOON COMMANDER, WROTE GLOWINGLY, IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 21/07/1916, THAT HE WAS A FINE LEADER OF MEN.
HE LEFT A WIDOW AND ONE CHILD, SISTERS, ESTHER AND BETTY, AND BROTHER, ERNEST WALTER JOHNSON, OF THE ARTISTS RIFLES, WHO HAD BEEN IN FRANCE FOR 15 MONTHS.
