1853 –13/06/1921
Rector of St Peter's Church 1883-1902
Relatives
Research:
- Melanie Hilton
- Robin McMorran
Plot 54 Arthur Johnson (1853-1921)
Arthur was born in 1853 in Southown, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the first child of Robert Johnson, prosperous owner of a carpet warehouse, and his wife Hannah (née Riches). He was baptised 1 December that year in Great Yarmouth.
His brother Henry John (Harry) was born in 1855 and sister Eva in 1860.
It has not been discovered where Arthur received his university and clerical training, but he obtained an M.A. and was a clerk in holy orders when he married (Elizabeth) Bessie Barford, born in Banbury, in 1879, in Edlesborough where he was living at the time.
They were to have eight children: Cecily (1881), Cyril Sheldon (1882), Bernard Frederick (1884), Winifred Mary (1885), Francis Matthew Cowper (1887), Stephen Kerswell (1890), Hilda Mary (1892) and Aubrey Olave (1895).
On September 9 1883 The Hertfordshire Mercury reported that: “The Revd. Arthur Johnson, curate of Berkhamsted and Northchurch has been appointed Vicar of Linslade [Beds]. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford.” However, it appears that he did not take up this position as he became Rector of Berkhamsted St Peter in that year, succeeding Rev John Wolstenholme Cobb, who died in office. He served as Rector of St Peter’s Church 1883-1902.
By the end of the 19th century, Rectory Lane Cemetery was running out of burial space. Rev Arthur Johnson and the 3rd Earl Brownlow, Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, donated an additional acre of land so that the Cemetery could be extended to the south. This first Cemetery extension was consecrated in 1896.
Arthur’s brother was also a clergyman. Revd Harry Johnson served for 5 years as curate at St Peter’s, and he started a project to establish another church in the Kitsbury area of Berkhamsted. Arthur played an important part in this scheme. With the help of Lord Brownlow, he obtained permission to set up a chapel-of-ease in the parish. Harry carried out missionary work around Kitsbury, and a meeting at the Progress Hall in 1889 attracted 200 people.
As a result of the Johnson brothers’ work, a “Tin Tabernacle” was set up on Cross Oak Road in the 1890’s. This was later to be replaced by a permanent building, All Saints Church, which opened in 1906, overseen by Arthur’s successor, Rev. Henry G Constable Curtis.
Sadly, Harry did not live to see the new church; he died aged only 33 in 1889 and was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery.
Arthur’s incumbency at St Peter’s ended in 1902. It is recorded on the long brass plaque which lists all the rectors of the Great Berkhamsted Parish from 1222 to the present day – a plaque which was installed on Arthur’s instruction early in his tenure at St Peter’s.
Arthur left Berkhamsted to take up the living of Settrington, Yorkshire, for which the patron was Lord Brownlow. The 1911 census records Arthur and Bessie there with Cecily, Winifred, Frank and Hilda, looked after by a cook, parlour maid and housemaid.
When Arthur died 13 June 1921, aged 68, he was brought back to Berkhamsted to be buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery next to his brother.
Kelly’s Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex 1890, p.717
Norris, R.A., Parish Church of Berkhamsted, St. Peter, Hertfordshire, 1923, p.11
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