Biographies A-Z

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Johnson, Maire (Marie Tregay)

Johnson, Maire (Marie Tregay) (1874–1974), socialist, suffragist, and teacher, was born 24 December 1874 in Lisbwery, Truro, Cornwall, the daughter of James Tregay , a former miner, who, on being blinded as a young man, became a basket-weaver. He held radical political views and…

Johnson, Nevill

Johnson, Nevill (1911–99), artist, was born on 23 July 1911 in the family home at Buxton, Derbyshire, England, the youngest of two sons of Arthur Ernest Johnson, a wealthy cotton merchant, and his wife Florence Isobel (née Townsend). His parents' marriage ended (c.1930) over…

Johnson, Philip Francis

Johnson, Philip Francis (1835–1926), political activist and labour organiser, was born at Mallow, Co. Cork. He was well educated and travelled widely as a youth, spending eight years in India and visiting the South Sea Islands. He had returned to Ireland by the late 1850s, and…

Johnson, Robert

Johnson, Robert (c.1745–1833), judge, was the eldest son of Thomas Johnson, a Dublin apothecary, who was ‘a good, orthodox, hard-praying protestant’ (Barrington, i, 463). He entered the Inner Temple, London, in 1774 and was called to the Irish bar in 1776. Under the…

Johnson, Rosanna (‘Rosie’)

Johnson, Rosanna (‘Rosie’) (1891–1987), street trader, was born 24 March 1891, daughter of William Walsh, labourer, of 6 Turner's Cottages, Dublin, and Julia Walsh (née Reilly). At the age of 12 she was selling violets on the street for a penny a bunch and by the time she was 17 she…

Johnson, Sir Henry

Johnson, Sir Henry (1748–1835), soldier, was born 1 January 1748, second son of Allen Johnson, gentleman, of Kilternan, Co. Dublin, and Olivia Johnson (née Walsh). He entered the army in February 1761, was commissioned as an ensign in the 28th Foot, and served in the Seven Years’…

Johnson, Sir William

Johnson, Sir William (1715–74), superintendent of Indian affairs in colonial America (specifically among the Iroquois and their allies in New York), was born at Smithtown, Co. Meath, one of seven children (three sons and four daughters) of Christopher Johnson, tenant farmer, and Anne…

Johnson, Thomas

Johnson, Thomas (1863–1954), botanist, was born 27 February 1863 at Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, the fourth child in a family of four sons and a daughter of George Rex Johnson (1822–1893), owner of a tanyard in Retford, Nottinghamshire, and Mary Johnson (née Young, 1823–1909)…

Johnson, Thomas Ryder

Johnson, Thomas Ryder (1872–1963), labour leader, was born 17 May 1872 in South Hunter St., Liverpool, only child of Thomas Johnson, foreman in a nearby sailmaker's yard, and Margaret Johnson (née Boardman). In 1876 he enrolled in an elementary school conducted by the nonconformist…

Johnson, William Frederick

Johnson, William Frederick (1852–1934), clergyman, teacher, and entomologist, was born 20 April 1852 at Cochin, Travancore, India, son of Edward J. Johnson, a member of the Church Missionary Society; his mother's name is not known. For the most part he was privately educated, although…

Johnstone, John Henry

Johnstone, John Henry (1749–1828), actor and singer, was born 1 August 1749 in Co. Kilkenny, son of a quartermaster in an Irish regiment of horse; there are few details about the rest of his family. His father died when he was a child and he was supported by his mother, who sold…

Johnstone (Johnston), Charles

Johnstone (Johnston), Charles (c.1719–c.1800), writer, was born at Carrigogunnell, Co. Limerick, son of Thomas Johnstone (or Johnston) and his wife, née Sharpe. Educated at the local diocesan school, he entered TCD but…

Johnstone, Thomas McGimpsey

Johnstone, Thomas McGimpsey (1876–1961), presbyterian minister, temperance campaigner and author, was born on 11 June 1876 in Newtownards, Co. Down, son of Joseph Hamilton Johnstone, a builder, and his wife Rosena (née McGimpsey). The family was staunchly presbyterian (with covenanter…

Johnstone, Walter Edgeworth-

Johnstone, Walter Edgeworth- (1863–1937), soldier, DMP commissioner, and sportsman, was born at Kingstown, Co. Dublin, the eldest son of Robert Johnstone (1806–85), QC and county court judge, of Laputa, Co. Donegal, and his wife Doris Tivy. In 1838 a…

Johnston, Francis

Johnston, Francis (1760/61–1829), architect, was the second of two sons of William Johnston (1728–92) of Armagh, architect and builder, and his first wife, Margaret, daughter of James Houston. The family, originally from Scotland, settled in Ireland in the early seventeenth century with…

Johnston, Geoffrey Deane

This is a co-subject for the entry on Johnston, John Corry. View the original entry.

Johnston, George

Johnston, George (1814–89), obstetrician, was born 12 August 1814 in Dublin, third of seven sons and two daughters of Andrew Johnston, MD, army surgeon and PRCSI (…

Johnston, James

Johnston, James (1903–91), tenor, was born 13 August 1903 at 74 York Road, Belfast, where his father owned a butcher's shop. He was the third child and the first son among seven children of Thomas Johnston and his wife Margaret (née Chapman). The children all attended Duncairn…

Johnston, John

Johnston, John (1786–1862), presbyterian minister, was born at Aughendrummond, Clogher, Co. Tyrone, seventh son of William Johnston, farmer and merchant; his mother may have been his father's second wife, Margaret (née Armstrong?). He was educated at Mr Millar's school at Clogher…

Johnston, John

Johnston, John (1762–1828), fur trader, was born 25 August 1762 near Portrush, Co. Antrim, son of William Johnston and Elizabeth Johnston (née McNeil). The family, which had come from Scotland two generations earlier, owned Craige, an estate near the Giant's Causeway. Johnston's father…

Johnston, John Corry

Johnston, John Corry (1855–1943), presbyterian minister, was born 19 November 1855, eldest surviving son of John Johnston, tenant farmer, and Lydia Anne Johnston (née Curry) of Roughan, Augher, Co. Tyrone. Educated locally, largely by the presbyterian minister in Ballygawley, Dr W…

Johnston (Johnston-Liik ), Edith Mary

Johnston (Johnston-Liik ), Edith Mary (1930–2008), historian and editor, was born 11 July 1930 in Belfast, eldest of three daughters of John Worthington Johnston (1904–52), athlete, presbyterian minister and army chaplain, and his wife Mary Isobel Giraud (née McFadden); a son died at…

Johnston, Joseph

Johnston, Joseph (1890–1972), economist and senator, was born 2 August 1890 in Castlecaulfield, Co. Tyrone, one of the eight children and the youngest of the six sons of John Johnston, schoolteacher, and his wife, Mary, née Geddes. He was educated at Dungannon Royal School and as a…

Johnston, Robert

Johnston, Robert (1840–1937), nationalist, was born 17 March 1840 in Deerfin near Crebilly, Co. Antrim, one of four sons and four daughters of James Johnston, farmer, and Peg Johnston (née Dempsey) of a farming family in Liminary, Ballymena. Johnston is an anglicised form of the…

Johnston, William

Johnston, William (1818–94), presbyterian minister and philanthropist, was born 2 January 1818 at his maternal grandfather's home, Crieve House, near Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, the eldest child of the Rev. John Johnston (qv) (d. 1862) of…