Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 30.djvu/19

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gerous condition, was, in January 1846, sustained by the court of exchequer, but was ultimately reversed in 1853 on an appeal to the House of Lords. In 1839 he was appointed professor of moral and political economy in the Hindoo college at Calcutta; became one of the editors of the ‘Englishman’ newspaper there, and edited the government ‘Gazette’ while Lord Auckland was governor-general (1837–41). On his return to England in 1842, he wrote ‘The Stranger in India, or Three Years in Calcutta,’ 1843. He now settled at Winchester, and, again turning his attention to gardening pursuits, edited annually the ‘Gardeners' Almanack’ for the Stationers' Company from 1844 to 1866. In 1845 was published ‘The Principles of Practical Gardening,’ which was subsequently much enlarged and reissued in 1862 as ‘The Science and Practice of Gardening.’ A ‘Dictionary of Gardening’ appeared in 1846, and met with a good reception, and ‘The Cottage Gardener's Dictionary’ was published in 1852; a supplement to the latter is dated 1868. In 1847 Johnson commenced a series of works called ‘The Gardener's Monthly Volume,’ the first portion of which, on the potato, was written by himself. Twelve volumes of this series appeared. On the death of his father-in-law, Newington Hughes, banker, Maidstone, Johnson succeeded to his property, when the Fairfax manuscripts came into his possession. These valuable documents, which had been rescued from a shoemaker at Maidstone, were in 1848–9 published as the ‘Fairfax Correspondence’ in four large volumes, the first two of which were edited by Johnson, the last two by Robert Bell (1800–1867) [q. v.] On 5 Oct. 1848 appeared the first number of Johnson's ‘Cottage Gardener,’ which was at once successful. When in 1851 Dr. Robert Hogg became joint editor, the title was changed to the ‘Journal of Horticulture,’ under which name it still continues. Johnson died at his residence, Waldronhurst, Croydon, on 29 Oct. 1886, and was buried in the grounds of St. Peter's Church on 4 Nov.

He was the author of the following works, in addition to those already mentioned: 1. ‘Outlines of Chemistry,’ by C. W. and G. W. Johnson, 1828. 2. ‘The Potato Murrain and its Remedy,’ 1846. 3. ‘The Domestic Economist,’ 1850. 4 (with the Rev. W. W. Wingfield). ‘The Poultry Book,’ 1853; another edit. 1856. 5. ‘The British Ferns popularly described,’ 1857; 4th edit. 1861. 6 (with others). ‘The Garden Manual,’ 1857, &c. 7. ‘The Chemistry of the World,’ 1858. 8. ‘Muck for the Many, or the Economy of House Sewage,’ 1860. 9. ‘Science and Practice of Gardening,’ 1862. 10 (with R. Hogg). ‘The Wild Flowers of Great Britain,’ 1863. 11 (with others). ‘The Greenhouse,’ 1873. He also translated ‘A Selection of Eatable Funguses,’ by M. Plues, 1866.

[Journal of Horticulture, 1887, xiii. 401–4, 424, with portrait; Times, 5 Nov. 1886, p. 6; Bookseller, 6 Nov. 1886, p. 1181.]

G. C. B.

JOHNSON, GERARD (fl. 1616), tomb-maker. [See under Janssen, Bernard.]

JOHNSON, GUY (1740?–1788), American loyalist and militia colonel, a nephew of Sir William Johnson [q. v.], was born in Ireland about 1740. He served with the American provincial troops against the French in 1757, and commanded a company of rangers under Jeffrey Amherst [q. v.] in 1759–60. He became one of Sir William Johnson's assistants in the Indian department, and on Sir William's death in 1774 was provisionally appointed his successor by General Gage, at the express desire of the Indians. He was confirmed as superintendent of the Indian department by the home government.

Johnson lived in great affluence at Guy Hall, Tryon county, New York, where his intemperate loyalty is said to have precipitated the revolutionary troubles. He returned to Staten Island, after a visit to England, in August 1776. His estates were confiscated by the Americans, but through the war he continued to act as superintendent of the Indian department. In 1778–9 he appears to have been in New York, awaiting passage to Quebec. In a letter to a correspondent in England he refers to the terror caused by the Indian raids on the frontier as calculated to divert the rebel forces from the seat of war (Add. MS. 34323, f. 20). In another he speaks of having been manager of a theatre in New York (the old theatre in John Street) during the winter of 1778, and of having acted in one of Colman's plays, whereby he cleared five hundred dollars for the benefit of the soldiers' widows and orphans (ib. f. 26). Afterwards he appears to have reached Quebec, and he was associated with the operations of Joseph Brant and the Mohawks against the Americans under General Sullivan. In 1783 he was replaced by his brother-in-law, Sir John Johnson, bart., who was made inspector-general of the Indians. Guy Johnson thereupon came to London to urge his claims against the government. He died, it is said in poverty, in the Haymarket, London, on 5 March 1788. The accounts of the Indian department for part of Johnson's tenure of office in 1777–83 are now in the British Museum, forming Add. MSS. 20769–