George Johnson

His military service record has not been found.

An anonymous soldier

George Johnson is the name of one of the men on the Bottesford ‘church list’ of WW1 Servicemen. Although few details of his life have been found, and nothing about his military service, he is included for completeness and in the hope that information will become available in the future.

Family background

In 1911, a man named George Johnson was an assistant baker at 6, Chapel Street, Bottesford. He was a seventeen year old from Long Bennington, Lincolnshire. His employer was master baker Arthur Germany and his wife Emma. This is the only definite record we have that appears to identify the man named on the ‘church list’.

The birth of a boy named George Johnson was registered in the Grantham area in 1894, but in the 1901 census there was no-one of that name living in Long Bennington or anywhere else near Bottesford. There was a George Johnson, born 1894 at Pickworth, the fifth out of the ten children of James and Emma Johnson at Pickworth, which is a village in the Grantham area. There was also George H Johnson, born 1894 in Grantham, the oldest child of Edwin and Mary E. Johnson, who lived at 62 Norton St, Spittlegate, Grantham. However, there is no basis for equating either of these with the young baker in Bottesford ten years later.

Military records

The military records of George Johnson who came from Long Bennington and resided at Bottesford has not been found.

Two possibilities from results of a search of military records in Find my Past were examined. One was Driver 204433 RFA, but he was a labourer from a village near Louth, NE Lincolnshire. The other was Private 201780 of the Lincolnshire Regiment, a man who suffered from shell-shock in 1917, then was taken prisoner-of-war on the 31st March, 1918, and repatriated in December 1918: however, he was a labourer who came from a village near Horncastle. Neither can be connected with the man from Long Bennington who worked in a bakery in Bottesford in 1911.

After the war

A couple named George Frederick and Emily Johnson lived at The Green, Bottesford, at least from 1921 to 1931, but it is not certain that this refers to the man from Long Bennington. George Johnson has not been identified in the 1939 register, and we are unable to say where or when he died.

All in all, he is a bit of a mystery as things stand.

No Comments

Start the ball rolling by posting a comment on this page!

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.