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James JOHNSON (1798–1872)
His wife Mrs Jane JOHNSON née Deeley (1822–1863)
St Paul section: Row 7, Grave A13 (St Paul ref J4)

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The ledger stone on this vault is much longer than shown here, but all the inscription is in the top third

James Johnson was born in Standlake in 1798 and baptised there on 22 July, the son of Richard Johnson and his wife Hannah. Five of his siblings were also born there: Mary Johnson (1800), William Johnson (1803), Richard Johnson (1804), Francis Johnson (1806), and Job Johnson (1811). At the time of the 1841 census James Johnson, who was aged about 42, was described as a builder and was living at Worcester Street in Oxford with Mary Johnson, who was about ten years older than he was, and one servant. Mary is likely to have been his first wife, and she died at Worcester Place at the age of 66 and was buried at St Mary-the-Virgin Church in Oxford on 15 June 1846.

Jane Deeley was born in Deddington in 1822 and baptised there on 29 September. She was the daughter of the labourer Thomas Deeley and Mary Dide, who were married at Deddington on 15 October 1806. Her eight siblings were also baptised there: Elizabeth (1807), John (1809), Mary (1811), Sarah (1815), Ann (1816), Thomas (1819), Catharine (1826), and George (1828).

On 26 January 1850 at St George's, Hanover Square, James Johnson, described as a widower, married Jane Deeley. They had two sons:

• Charles Bailey Johnson (born at Walton Place (now Walton Street), Oxford in 1850 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 30 November) 
• Richard James Johnson (born in Oxford in 1851 and baptised at Deddington on 14 December).

At the time of the 1851 census James Johnson (53) was living in Worcester Street with his wife Jane (26) and their first son Charles (6) and one servant. He was described as a timber merchant & builder employing 17 men. By 1861 they were living in Walton Street with their two sons.

Despite being nearly a quarter of a century younger than her husband, Mrs Johnson predeceased him, dying in 1863:

† Mrs Jane Johnson née Deeley died at Walton Street at the age of about 42 in December 1863 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 15 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

On 7 February 1870 at the age of 19, James & Jane Johnson’s elder son Charles Bailey Johnson was matriculated at the University of Oxford by Pembroke College.

At the time of the 1871 census James Johnson, a widower of 72, was living at 5 Worcester Street with his younger son Richard (19), and both were described as timber merchants. Also living with him was his wife’s unmarried niece Emma Deeley (25), and they had two servants.

James Johnson died at Walton Street the following year:

† James Johnson died at Walton Street at the age of 74 on 7 October 1872 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 10 October (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

His death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal read simply: “Oct. 7, at his residence, Walton-street, Oxford, Mr. James Johnson, aged 74.” His effects came to under £12,000, and his son Charles Bailey Johnson of Walton Street was one of his executors. The probate record describes James Johnson as a timber & slate merchant, and his son as a gentleman.

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Children of James & Jane Johnson

• Charles Bailey Johnson (born 1850) married Agnes Grace Shutt in Buckingham in 1880 (with his banns read at St Paul's Church, Oxford on 29 August). At the time of the 1881 census he was aged 30 and described as a timber merchant, and living at 2 Winchester Road in north Oxford with his wife Agnes (19) and one servant. In 1891 they were living at Westbury Lodge in Norham Road with their children Harold (9), Elsie (4), and Phyllis (two months): they now had three servants. In 1901 they and their three children were at 10 Bardwell Road. By 1911 they had retired to Eastbourne with their two daughters. Charles Bailey Johnson died at 3 Gore Park Road, Eastbourne on 9 January 1924. His effects came to £5,369 12s. 2d., and his daughter Miss Phyllis Bailey Johnson was one of his executors.
• Richard James Johnson (born 1851) married Sarah Elizabeth Smith in Hook, Surrey on 2 November 1874 and they had twelve children (but five of them were dead by 1911). At the time of the 1881 census he was a timber merchant aged 29 living at 3 Walton Street with his wife Sarah (30) and their children Mary Elizabeth Johnson (5), Alice Jane Johnson (4), Percival James Johnson (3), and Charles Richard Johnson (1), plus four servants (a governess, cook, nursemaid, and nurse). They were still there in 1891 with six more children: Herbert Edwin Johnson (9), Ethel Monica Johnson (6), Gertrude Eveline Johnson (5), Kate Aline Johnson (3), and William Montague Johnson (1), and in 1901 they had a tenth child, Mildred Ellen Johnson (8). By 1911 the had moved to Beech Lawn, a twelve-roomed house in Sunnymeade, and Richard’s sons Percival and William were helping him in the business. Richard James Johnston died at 319 Woodstock Road on 20 March 1918. His effects came to £10,636 13s. 7d., and his son William Montague Johnson, timber merchant, was one of his executors.