Lance Corporal Edward Albert Johnson

Edward Albert Johnson was born in Liverpool on 31st December 1881. He was baptised in St. Peter’s Church, Liverpool, on 09th July 1882, his parents listed as Edward and Margaret Johnson, residence West Derby, and father’s occupation carter.  However, his civil birth registration shows he was born to an unwed mother, maiden name Johnson. Given family information on later censuses, it is likely she was Margaret Johnson, born in Kirby in 1861, mother’s maiden name Gore.  It was not uncommon for a father’s name to be added to a baptism certificate to conceal an illegitimate birth.  It is not known what became of his mother.

 

In 1891 Edward, 9, is found in the household of his grandparents Edward and Elizabeth Johnson, at 68 Paddington, Edge Hill, Liverpool. His grandfather is a greengrocer and their son Edward, 21, a labourer.  Also in the household is another granddaughter Elizabeth Johnson, 15, parents not known (but in later records she is described as Edward’s sister). Elizabeth married James Tyrer in 1893, at St. Cyprian’s Church, Edge Hill, father given as Edward Johnson, greengrocer, deceased.

 

By 1901 Edward is living with his uncle, Edward J. Johnson, 31, a general labourer, his wife Elizabeth, and their two children at 31 Juno Street, Edge Hill. Edward is 19, a general labourer.

 

He married Kathleen O’Neill from Wicklow, Ireland on 18th May 1902 at West Derby Registry Office. Kathleen, also called Catherine, was a Roman Catholic, Edward was Church of England.

 

Their daughter Catherine Margaret was born on 22nd July 1903. Like her mother, she is Catherine on some records and Kathleen on others.

 

A son Edward Albert was born on 21st September 1910. Both children were baptised Roman Catholic.

 

The 1911 Census finds the family at 15 Baltic Street, Liverpool. Edward is 29, a car conductor for Corporation Tramways, Kathleen is 30, daughter Kathleen is 9 and son Edward is six months old. His sister Elizabeth and husband James live at 19 Eastwood Street, Wavertree. 

 

Another daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born on 21st October 1912.

 

Edward volunteered, enlisting in Liverpool on 10th November 1914, as Private 22429, joining the 20th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, giving his age as 33 years and 345 days, and his occupation as clerk. (His casualty form shows his occupation as electric car driver and conduct sheet shows car conductor.). He was described as being 5’ 8” tall, weighing 140 lbs, with a fresh complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. His next of kin is his wife Kathleen at 74 Rydal Street, Breck Road, Liverpool.

Formed in November 1914 the 20^th Battalion were originally billeted at Tournament Hall, Knotty Ash before on 29^th January 1915 they moved to the hutted accommodation purposely built at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. Whilst training at Knowsley on 25th April 1915 he was absent overnight, confined to barracks for four days and forfeited one day’s pay. On 30th April 1915 the 20th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

He sailed to France on board the SS Invicta, disembarking at Boulogne on 07th November 1915.  

On 23rd March 1916 he was appointed unpaid Lance Corporal

 

On 23rd May 1916 he was appointed paid Lance Corporal

 

The battalion saw action at the Somme; during the failed attack on Guillemont on 30th July 1916 (the blackest day of the war for the Liverpool Pals) Edward  suffered a gunshot wound (his casualty form shows to the neck).  He was treated at No.6 Casualty Clearing Station before being evacuated to the U.K. from Boulogne on the Hospital Ship Cambria.

 

On 01st August 1916 he was admitted Norwich War Hospital, Norfolk, gunshot wound left leg.

 

His hospitalisation was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 04th August 1916: 

“A Liverpool Conductor - Lance Corporal E.A. Johnson of the “Pals” is in hospital suffering from wounds in the leg.  He was a conductor on our Liverpool tramcars for sixteen years. He was wounded by a bomb.  His home was at 74 Rydal Street, Breck Road.”

 

On 09th August 1916 Edward was transferred to Sunny Hill Auxiliary Hospital, Thorpe St. Andrew, Norfolk (an eastern suburb of Norwich). However, his record shows a “small bit of metal left in calf muscle”, as such, he was returned to Norwich Hospital for removal, and his wound “quite healed”. He was discharged on 18th December 1916. 

 

On 27th December 1916 he was posted to Depot.

 

On 30th March 1917 he was posted to the 3rd (Garrison) Battalion while in the U.K.

 

Whilst at Cosheston Camp (Pembrokeshire) on 16th April 1917 Edward was severely reprimanded for overstaying leave 24 hours and forfeited two days’ pay.

 

On 01st May 1917 he was posted to the 12th Bn K.L.R.

 

On 02nd May 1917 he returned to France.

 

On 21st May 1917 he was posted to the 13th Bn K.L.R.  At this time the battalion was in billets at Beaufort, near Arras. They remained in billets for training until the end of the month when they moved to Lattre St. Quentin, and embussed at Harbarcq, to billets in Arras, where they arrived on the afternoon of 1st June. Platoons moved off at intervals, relieving the Newfoundlanders in the Brown Line, two companies holding the line with one in support and one in reserve.  They remained in the Brown Line, holding and consolidating various positions and providing working and carrying parties until relieved on the night of the 15th June. 

 

The battalion War Diary does not record routine shelling or casualties for the month, but Edward was killed in action on 15th June 1917.

 

His death was announced in the Roll of Honour section of the Liverpool Echo on 9th July 1917:

“A Comrade’s Tribute - Lance Corporal E. A. Johnson, K.L.R., had been killed in action.  He was in the service of the Liverpool Corporation tramways for 16 years and joined the Colours soon after the outbreak of war.  His widow resides at Rydal Street, Thirlmere Road, Everton.  A comrade, in a letter to Mrs. Johnson, wrote of her husband, ‘He was brave to the last, cheerful, and his thoughts were with you.’”

Edward's body was never recovered from the battlefield, or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

 

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

 

Kathleen placed an In Memoriam notice on the first anniversary of his death:

“In loving memory of my dear husband, E. A. Johnson, who was killed in action June 15, 1917.  From his Wife.”

 

He earned his three medals which Kathleen signed for, as well as his Memorial Plaque and Scroll.

 

His children were 13, 6, and 4 years old when Edward was killed.  His Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £12, went to his widow Kathleen.  She was paid a Separation Allowance of £1-4s-6d plus Pay Allotment of 3/6d a week until December 1917, when the pension of £1-6s-3d a week for herself and three children was awarded.

 

Kathleen received his personal effects in October 1917:  Letters, Photos, 3 RC medallions, 2 Purses, 2 Cap badges, 1 Metal mirror, 1 permanent pass, 1 wounded stripe, bomber’s badge, 1 Bridge scoring card, Farthing.

 

In 1919 his widow was required to provide information on Edward’s living relatives.  In addition to herself and his three children, living at 74 Rydal Street, Thirlmere Road, Everton, she gives his parents as Albert and Margaret, with no further information, and his sister Lizzie Tyrer, Eastwood Street, Wavertree. 

 

In 1939 his widow Catherine is living with married son Edward, at 54 Parkside Drive, Liverpool.  Catherine’s birthdate is given as 11/5/1877, which does not agree with her age on the 1911 census.  She died in 1944.

Edward, 29, like his father, was a Tramways conductor.  He died in 1973.

 

His daughter Mary never married and died in 1968, aged 55.

 

His daughter Catherine married in 1921. Her husband was killed during the May blitz in 1941. She remarried in November 1941, but tragically her second husband was killed six months later when his ship was torpedoed in the Atlantic. Catherine died in 1975, aged 71.

 

Edward is commemorated in Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 66.

 

We currently have no further information on Edward Albert Johnson. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.