Arthur Henry Johnson

Reverend Arthur Henry Johnson (8 February 1845 – 31 January 1927) was an English historian and the chaplain of All Souls College, Oxford. He was a member of the Oxford University football team which won the FA Cup in 1874. He played a pioneering role in the development of the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education.

Family and education Johnson was born in Marylebone, London on 8 February 1845, the second son of George John Johnson and his wife, Frederica née Hankey, and was baptised at St Mary's Church, Bryanston Square on 11 March 1845. His father was a captain in the Coldstream Guards. In 1866, he took a Second in Classical Moderations, graduating as Bachelor of Arts in 1868 with a First Class degree in Law and History,

In later years, when a "don" at the university, he often surprised students returning late to their rooms, by the speed with which he was able to catch them if they tried to run away.

In 1909, he was the Ford Lecturer for which his topic was "The Disappearance of the Small Landowner". Johnson wrote several books on historical topics, including "The Normans in Europe", "Europe in the Sixteenth Century", "The History of the Worshipful Company of the Drapers of London" and "The Age of the Enlightened Despot".

In 1912, he contributed the original biography of fellow Oxford historian Montagu Burrows (1819–1905) to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Johnson was a "forthright, plain-spoken, athletic man" who was "fond of telling his pupils that nature had destined him for a groom or gamekeeper, for anything but a scholar". At his death, he was described as "a country gentleman in holy orders" and "one of the most prominent figures in Oxford life for upwards of sixty years".

Oxford Continuing Education In September 1878, Johnson gave a lecture at King Edward VI School in Birmingham, under the auspices of the Birmingham Higher Education Association, on the topic: "The History of England in the Seventeenth Century". This was the first of the early "Oxford Extension Lectures" which evolved into the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. Together, their "qualities of vitality and charm and a gift for friendship and hospitality … gave them a prominent place in university society". They subsequently lived at 8 Merton Street before settling at 5 South Parks Road.

The couple had two children: Robert Arthur Johnson, born 26 March 1874 George Wilfred Johnson, born 12 January 1876

Robert became Deputy Master and Controller of the Royal Mint while George became headmaster of Alleyne's School, Stevenage. Bertha died three months later, on 24 April, and was buried alongside him.

Sporting honours Oxford University FA Cup winner: 1874