Maurice Johnson

Maurice Johnson was born in Heeley on 21 August 1892, the son of William Arthur and Frances Emily Johnson. Maurice was one of ten children only five of whom were still alive by the time of the 1911 census. In 1902 the family moved to Totley where William became Marker and Cellarman at the Rifle Range at Lane Head.

Maurice, along with his brother Robert and sister Grace, had formerly been pupils at Lowfield Board School. In 1902 their names were entered into the admissions register of Totley School. Maurice remained there until August 1906 when he left to become an apprentice steel wire drawer.

The Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons was a territorial unit and 'A' Squadron had its headquarters in Sheffield. Maurice's first army number of 2759 indicates that he joined up on 1 January 1914, so he would have been called up immediately on the outbreak of war on 3 August 1914. 'A' Squadron was attached to the 17th (Northern) Division at Winchester and on 16 July 1915 they landed at Le Have in France and took part in the fighting on the Ypres Salient.

In May 1916 the regiment became part of II Corps and fought on the Somme (1916), Ancre (1916), the Somme again (1917) and Ypres (1917).

In November 1917 the regiment was again transferred this time to the Cavalry Corps and then in November 1917 to the Lucknow Cavalry Brigade of the 4th Cavalry Division with whom they faught at the Battle of Cambrai.

In 1918 the regiment was dismounted and converted to a Cyclist Regiment returning to II Corps and fighting at Ypres until the end of the war.

During his time in the Yorkshire Dragoons, Maurice served as batman to Capt. Matt Sheppard who was the subject of the book Sheffield Hero. Sheppard's father had been the proprietor of the Cross Scythes around 1895.

On 11 July 1914, shortly before the regiment's departure to France, Maurice married Annie Stones at Christ Church, Dore. This is a photo taken on that day. Annie was the eldest daughter of John Stones, the last blacksmith in Dore village whose forge was at the rear of the Devonshire Arms.

In 1915 their first son Gilbert was born and in 1917 a second son Hedley arrived. It is possible that he was named after Maurice's friend Hedley Bishop who was one of the ten Totley men who died in WW1.

After demobilzation in 1919, Maurice returned to his occupation as a wire drawer and the family set up home at 330 Baslow Road, the last of the row of cottages at Lane Head. More sons joined the family, Frank in 1920, Maurice junior in 1924, Robert in 1931 and finally the sixth son John was born in 1935.

As a young man Maurice was very involved in the community and he was a member of the Totley Cricket Club for whom he was a fine bowler as attested to by Jo Rundle and others. Also in the photograph are Jim Green (back row, 2nd left), Frank Taylor (back row, roll neck sweater) and Sid Andews (front row, seated next to Maurice). Perhaps you can name others or tell us the approximate date of the photograph?.

Later in life, Maurice became a member of the Cross Scythes Bowling Club. Robert Jackson remembers there was a the crown green of irregular shape at the back of The Cross Scythes Hotel and that the players went down two or three steps onto the green, the entrance being guarded by two brown stone recumbent lions. Ivor Lewis said that his grandfather, David Lewis, was instrumental in designing and constructing the bowling green. It was originally turfed with pasture grasses that he had selected from Totley Hall Farm.

His son John says that Maurice was also very politically aware. He retired in 1957 at the age of 65 and died of a heart attack on 1 May 1971. After Maurice's death, Annie moved to 74 Green Oak Road where she lived until her death on 10 April 1987 aged 93.

October 2017

We have been contacted by Sue Adam who is a volunteer at the Minster Church of St George in Doncaster. Inside the church is a memorial dedicated to the men of the Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons who died during the First World War. Earlier this year the Heritage Lottery Fund gave a grant to the Doncaster and District Heritage Association for the restoration of the memorial.

This has now been done and research is being carried out on the men named on the memorial and also the men who attended a service in 1921 when the memorial was dedicated. The team of volunteers intend to have a service of re-dedication in the autumn of 2018 and they would like to contact relatives of the men in order to invite them to the service.

Sue had read our article on Maurice Johnson, who had fought with the Yorkshire Dragoons on the Somme (1916), Ancre (1916), the Somme again (1917) and Ypres (1917). During his time in the regiment, Maurice served as batman to Capt. Matt Sheppard who was the subject of the book Sheffield Hero. Sheppard's father had been the proprietor of the Cross Scythes around 1895. Sue asked whether we had any contact with family members of either of the men.

We were delighted to hear from John Johnson, Maurice's son, who has expressed his interest in supporting the event. As a tribute to his father, John has sent us this lovely photograph of his brother Maurice Junior's wedding as most of the family members are pictured on it. The wedding took place at St. Timothy's Church, Crookes, on 1 September 1951.

Back Row: Bob Johnson (brother), Betty Redfern (brother Gilbert's wife), Gilbert (brother), John Hassall (best man).

Middle row: John Johnson, Annie Johnson (mother), Hedley Johnson (brother), Ellen Johnson (brother Hedley's wife), Maurice Johnson Senior, Doris Richardson (father's sister), Stan Bingham (usher).

Front row: Betty Dickinson, Maurice Johnson Junior (groom), Trixie Bright (bride), Pauline Bright (bride's sister).

Trixie, Pauline and Betty Dickinson all worked for the Blood Transfusion Service. John tells us that apart from himself all the people in the photograph have now passed away.