In Memory Of

JOHNSON, ARTHUR

Service Details
Age:
 43
Date of Birth:
 -0001-11-30
Service No:
 4007
Rank:
 Private
Unit:
 1st Regt.
Unit 2:
 "C" Coy.
Regiment:
 South African Infantry
Date of Death:
 1916-07-18
Cause of Death:
 Missing in action, at Delville Wood
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
 Pier and Face 4 C.
Cemetery:
 THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Localitly:
 Somme
Country:
 France
Additional Information
Husband of Catherine L. Johnson, of 13, Free State Rd., Beaconsfield. Born Bournemouth 1875. An engine driver. Served during the Boer War and was present at the Siege of Kimberley when large numbers of Boer forces from the Orange Free State besieged the diamond mining town. Despite being ill-prepared at first, the local defenders organised an energetic and effective improvised defence which prevented the town from being taken; the British lost 42 killed and 135 wounded from a strength of approximately 1600 men. The outbreak of the Great War saw Johnson return to service, initially spending 10 months in German South West Africa. He subsequently attested for the 1st South African Infantry at Potchefstroom on 2 September 1915 and disembarked at Alexandria per Saxonia on 29 December 1915. Admitted to hospital at Sidi Barrani suffering from a septic leg ulcer, he later embarked aboard Ivernia for France on 20 May 1916.