Comments
Venn: adm. sizar. ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, 2 Aug. 1758; son of Samuel, schoolmaster of Shropshire; school Shrewsbury; matric. Michs 1759; BA 1771; MA 1774; fourth, or accidente, master at Shrewsbury school (succeeding his father) 1758 and "somehow while acting as such kept his terms at Cambridge." Ordained deacon (Hereford) 21 Sep. 1769; priest 24 Sep. 1769; curate Hanwood, Salop 1769; perhaps also PC Withington, Salop; 3rd Master Shrewsbury 1771-83; 2nd Master Shrewsbury 1783-98 when he resigned. The Headmaster states in his MS that Johnson went out of his mind in May 1768 but it is probable that his mental affliction was not of long duration as his name did not disappear from the school accounts.
Author of Poems; An Essay on Education (a poem in two parts;) The Temple of Fashion (poem in three parts); Died 2 Sep. 1798 aged 59 at Shrewsbury; doubtless father of Henry (1792); see St John's Adm. III, 654; G. Mag 1798 II, 994; Fisher Annals of Shrewsbury School; F P White