Corporal Aubrey Alfred Rogers Johnson
Aubrey Alfred Rogers Johnson was born on 30 April 1899 at Brierley Hill, Dudley, Staffordshire, the first of three children of GPO postman Alfred Johnson and his wife Fanny Lavinia. At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 31 Adelaide Street, Brierley Hill, with his parents and siblings. By 1917 he was working as a clerk for the firm Roberts & Cooper.
Johnson was called up on 27 February 1917. Although he expressed a preference for the Gordon Highlanders, he was posted to the 2/1 Regiment, Derbyshire Yeomanry (No.3914 – later No.76682). Based at Bridge Camp, Canterbury, in 1916 the regiment had been redesignated as a cyclist unit, part of the 5th Cyclist Brigade.
On 19 July Johnson sustained a serious wound to his face. Admitted to the Military Hospital at Canterbury, he recovered quickly and was discharged at the end of the month. According to the Dudley Chronicle newspaper of 4 August:
Pte. Aubrey Johnson, who, as we reported last week, met with an accident whilst in training, returned to his home in Adelaide Street this week, on leave. Happily his eyesight has not been so badly affected as was at first feared; in fact, the doctors have expressed surprise, and also their gratification, that he was not incapacitated for life – a sentiment which will be shared by all of our readers.
The following month at Bridge Camp Johnson was disciplined with four days confined to camp for being late on Church parade.
During 1918 he trained as a signaller at the 5th Cyclist Brigade Signal School and the Advanced Signal School at Littlebourne in Kent, qualifying as a 1st Class Signaller. On 18 April that year, however, he was ordered two extra duties for 'neglect of duty on night telephone operator's duty'.
On 12 September 1918, Johnson and 55 other men of the regiment were compulsorily transferred to the Corps of Hussars (No.81245) and posted to the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment, which was then serving in France as corps cyclist regiment to V Corps. They embarked at Folkestone for Boulogne that day, joining the regiment in the field on 18 September, where they were assigned to A, D and E Squadrons, joining in the fighting during the Advance to Victory offensive in the final weeks of the war.
On 7 June 1919, with around twenty other North Irish Horsemen, Johnson was transferred to the Army Cyclist Corps (No.23909) and posted to IV Corps Cyclist Regiment, part of the Army of Occupation based in Rolsdorf, Germany. He was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve, on 22 November 1919.
In April 1920 Johnson was living at Adelaide Street and working as a clerk at the Wollescote Galvanizing Company. In 1926 he married Margaret Doris Pearson. At the time of the 1939 Register they were living with their child at 'Craig-y-don', Himley Road, Dudley, Aubrey working as a company secretary. He died in 1950.
This page last updated 31 December 2022.