Sgt 31075 George Sydney Johnson

• Age: 36
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

George Sydney Johnson was born on 14th April 1880 in Liverpool, the son of William Edward Johnson and his wife Wilhelmina (nee Adair) who married at St George's Church Everton on 24th December 1879. William was a 23 year old police officer of 16 Dauby St, father George William a jeweller, whilst Wilhelmina was aged 19 of 7 McGregor St, father George a labourer. William was born in Lambeth, London and was a Sergeant in the Liverpool City Police. His wife Wihelmina was born in Newton Stewart in Wigtownshire, southwest Scotland. At the time of his baptism in St. Peter’s Church, Liverpool, on 09th June 1880, his parents were living at 88 Friar Street. George had nine younger siblings: John Adair born 1882, Rosetta born 1884, William Edward born 1887, Ernest born 1888, Wilhelmina, Edwin born 1894, Thomas born 1896, Emily, and Douglas born 1900. 

In 1881 the family are living at 88 Friar Street, Everton. George is listed as being under 1 year old.

The 1891 Census finds the family living at 36 St John's Road, Kirkdale. Father William is aged 34, a police sergeant and mother Wilhelmina is 31. George is the eldest child in the household now aged 10. He has 3 brothers, John is 9, William Edward is 4 Ernest is 3. He has a sister Rosetta who is 6. Also present in the house are Wilhelmina's parents George and Wilhelmina. There is also an adopted child listed as Lucy Kidd who is aged 14.  

George was educated at Walton Lane School. 

At the time of the 1901 census George, 20, a Police Constable, is boarding at 105 Royston Street, Edge Hill with Joseph Fitton, 29, who is also a Police Constable, and his family.

George Sydney Johnson joined the Police Force in 1901 as Constable 205E. He was promoted to Sergeant. He joined the Army on the 07th August 1915.

His parents, with his nine siblings, 1 to 19 years old, reside in the Police Station in Bradewell Street, Kirkdale.  His father is aged 43, a Police Sergeant, mother Wilhelmina is 41,  children John A. 19 a packer in tobacco factory, Rosetta 16, William E. 14 an office boy in printers shop, Wilhelmina D. 12, Edwin 7, Thomas 5, Emily 3 and Douglas 1. 

George married Jessie Clayton on 20th July 1910  at West Derby Registry Office. Their son, George Sydney, had been born before the marriage, on 15th April that year. A daughter, Wilhelmina, was born on 23rd November 1911.

He received a medal and certificate for gallantry on duty which was reported in the Liverpool Weekly Mercury on Saturday 16 July 1910: 

GALLANT LIVERPOOL POLICEMEN. 

An interesting prelude to the formal business of the Liverpool Watch Committee on Monday was the presentation of certificates and medals awarded to members of the police force by the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society for acts of gallantry performed while some duty, most of them consisting of the stopping of horses. Alderman Maxwell presided and the Shipwreck and Humane Society was represented by Mr Samuel Cross and Captain Burgess. In all there were 29 recipients of awards. Mr Cross presented the medals and certificates to the following:- 

Police-constable 205E George Sidney Johnson; 

In 1911 George and Jessie are living at 79 Cedar Grove, Toxteth Park.  George is 30, a Police Constable with the Liverpool City Police, Jessie is 24, and son George is 11 months old.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 171 Orwell Road, Kirkdale. Present in the household are both parents, Rosetta b. 1884, William Edward, Wilhelmina b.1891, Edwin b 1893, Thomas b.1895, Emily b.1897, Douglas b.1899 and a grandchild Alfred b.1906 who appears to be the child of Rosetta, who also had a daughter, Evelyn, in 1913. 

Prior to the outbreak of war he held the rank of Constable in E Division in the Liverpool City Police Force, a reserved occupation.

George enlisted in Liverpool on 07th August 1915 joining the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private 31075. The 19th Battalion remained at Belton Park until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain.  

 George arrived in France on 07th November 1915.

His father died in February 1916 in his 59th year. His father died suddenly and George was not able to attend the funeral. His obituary in the Liverpool Daily Post on Saturday 05th February 1916 stated that he had four sons serving in the Army and one in the Navy.

JOHNSON—February 2, suddenly, at 171, Orwell-road, Kirkdale, aged 59 years, William Edward, the dearly-beloved husband of Wilhelina Johnson (over 41 years a member of the Liverpool Police Force). Interment at Anfield Cemetery, Monday next, 2 30 p.m. 

George was serving as Sergeant when he was killed in action by a shell on the 30^th July 1916, aged 36, at the village of Guillemont during the Somme Offensive.

19^th Battalion Diary 

MALTZ HORN FARM

BATTLE begun. ZERO hour 4:45 am. The Battalion reached its objective, but suffered heavy losses, and had to evacuate its position owing to no reinforcements.

Everard Wyrall gives details of the attack in his book The History of The King’s Regiment; 

"The 2nd Attack on Guillemont- 29th July 1916 the 89th Brigade the 20th King's were to attack on the right and the 19th on the left. During the evening of the 29th the night was dark and foggy when the Battalions moved off and the 19th with Lt Col G Rollo commanding, when passing the South east of the Briqueterie they were heavily shelled first with H E and then with a new kind of asphyxiating Gas shell which had curious results, at first it had no nasty effect but about 8 hrs later men began to fall sick with violent headaches and pains in the stomach. All ranks had to wear gas masks which in the darkness and mist made the going terribly difficult. It was indeed wonderful that they were able to reach their Assembly point at all. But they did and by 2.45 a.m. on the 30th July 1916 the Btn was assembled having suffered about 30 Casualties on the way up ready for the Zero hour at 4.45 a.m.

It is known that the two left Companies of the 19th under Capt. Dodd and Capt. Nicholson advanced in touch with the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on their left although they suffered many casualties from Machine gun Fire did not encounter many Germans and reached their final objective about the time allocated, beginning at once to dig in south of the orchard on the South east corner of Guillemont.  

On the left of the 19th the Scots Fusiliers most gallantly forced their way through Guillemont to the eastern side of the village but were soon overwhelmed by the enemy and few returned. 

At 8 a.m. finding that the village was not held the two left Companies of the 19th received no word from the rear or either flank believed themselves to be totally isolated so were forced to fall back and dig in, their position being untenable.

At midday the effective fighting strength of the 19th Btn was just 7 Officers and 43 other ranks" 

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30^th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55^th Division during the early hours of the 31^st July.

Casualties in the 19^th Battalion were 11 Officers and 435 Other Ranks 

The events of 30^th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89^th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.    

A report of his death in the Liverpool Echo on 11th August 1916: 

LIVERPOOL POLICE SERGEANT.  

Sergeant George Sidney Johnson, of the “Pals,” who resided with his wife and family at 15, Cantsfield-street, was killed in action on the 30th ult. Sergeant Johnson, the son of an old and respected police sergeant, was sergeant in the Liverpool City Police, and had been stationed at Garston and Lawrence-road districts of F Division. He joined the "Pals," quickly won his stripes, and went to France a corporal, receiving further promotion on the field of battle. It is stated in the letter from the front that he and four others were killed by the same shell. Sergeant Johnson lost a brother in the Jutland battle, and has others serving.  

His death was confirmed and a report appeared in the Liverpool Courier Newspaper on 22nd August 1916:

Offical news has been received by his wife, of 30, Bradewell-street, that Sergeant George Sydney Johnson, Liverpool Pals, was killed in action on 30th July. Before joining Johnson was a sergeant in the Liverpool Police Force, being in the "F" Division. He joined as a private, and was soon made lance-corporal, and went out to France with the first detachment of Pals, and was promoted to sergeant on the battlefield. He was educated at Walton-lane Schools, and was well known in the North End of Liverpool, where he was stationed for many years. Sergeant Johnson was the eldest son of Mrs. Johnson, 171, Orwell-road, Kirkdale, and of the late Police-Sergeant Johnson, of "E" Division, who lost their third son in the Jutland battle, May 31st. Two of his brothers are now serving with the army, and he leaves a wife and two children to mourn his loss. 

Liverpool Daily Post - Monday 11 September 1916: 

Killed. 

King’s(Liverpool Regiment) - Johnson, 31075, Sgt. G. S. (Liverpool);    

George's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.” 

He was remembered in the local press on the second anniversary of his death in 1918: 

George earned his three medals.

His son was six and his daughter four years old when George was killed.  His widow received his Army pay and a War Gratuity of £6.  Jessie, at 30 Bradewell, Street, Kirkdale, was awarded a pension of 19/6d a week from February 1917, changed to an Alternative Pension of £1-10s-4d from June 1919.

George's loss was the second tragic loss that the family had to endure in less than two months and following the loss of their father in February 1916. George's brother William Edward, who had also been a serving Policeman (H Division) prior to enlistment, was serving in the Royal Navy as Petty Officer CH/D5121 when he was killed in action on board the destroyer HMS Turbulent, which was sunk by the German battleship Westfalen with the loss of 90 crew,  during the Battle of Jutland, on 01st June 1916. He was aged 29.

He now rests at Frederikshaven Cemetery in Denmark, one of only two from the ship whose bodies washed ashore in Denmark. A few of the others were found in Norway and Sweden; the vast majority were never found and are commemorated on naval memorials in England.  The thirteen crew members who survived became prisoners of war.

William Edward's death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on Wednesday 07 June 1916: 

JOHNSON—May 31, killed action aboard HMS Turbulent in the great naval battle, Petty Officer William Edward Johnson (late of Liverpool Fire Brigade), third son of Wilhemina and the late W. E. Johnson. (Duty nobly done.)—171, Orwell Road, Liverpool.   

George and William are both commemorated on the Merseyside Police Memorial, and in Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, George on Panel 69 (20th Bn.), and William on Panel 60 Right.

William is also commemorated on the City of Liverpool Fire Brigade Memorial.

His brother Douglas enlisted when he was 17 on 29^th April 1915 and joined 20th Battalion K.L.R. in France. He was discharged on 10^th May 1916 for making a "mis-statement as to age on enlistment". He re-enlisted on 16^th June 1917 and served with 26 Heavy Battery RGA.

Pte Thomas Johnson enlisted on 12th November 1915 and was posted to 20th Battalion, of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He was wounded in August 1916 and served out the war in 765 Company, Labour Corp.  

George's widow, Jessie, married William Williams in 1920 and soon after moved to North Wales and had a daughter.  

In 1939 she and her husband, a retired Police Constable, are found at Lodge Farm in St. Asaph with newly married daughter Mary.  

Also in 1939 his mother Wilhelmina, 79, is at 34 Felmersham Avenue, with married granddaughter Evelyn Johnson, now Christall, and her husband and son.

His son George is 29, married, is employed as a shipowner’s landing clerk, and living at 77 Florentine Road, Liverpool. George died in 1964, at the age of 54.

When his mother died in February 1940, aged 80, the following touching newspaper notice was placed in the Liverpool Echo: 

“Wilhelmina Douglas Adair, widow of Police Sergeant W. E. Johnson (died February 1916), and mother of the late Police Sergeant G. S. Johnson (Sergt. 3rd Pals, killed at Guillemont, 1916), and the late Police Fireman W. E. Johnson (lost at the battle of Jutland, 1916), and the late Rosetta (died October, 1937). (Reunited with those she dearly loved and lost.)”

His widow, Jessie, appears to have died in 1976.

His daughter Wilhelmina (known as Minnie or Mina) seems to have had more than one husband, and had a daughter who died at age 4. Wilhelmina died in 1997, age 85.

Grateful thanks are extended to Neil Murphy for the photograph now on the website. George is the Police Sergeant on the right of the photograph, his father is on the left. 

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