Hullwebs History of Hull
Richard Johnson
Richard
Johnson was born probably in 1753. Four different years have been given
as the date of his birth, and the authorities also disagree in the details
of his education. The most consistent account is in F. T. Whitington's life
of Bishop
Broughton (q.v.), which quotes a letter written in October 1786 by Henry
Venn which gave Johnson's age then as 33. This agrees with the inscription
on Johnson's monument which states he was aged 74 at the time of his death
in 1827. He was the son of John Johnson and was born in Norfolk and educated
at the grammar school of Kingston-upon-Hull, where he won a sizarship which
took him to Cambridge in 1781. He graduated B.A. as a senior optime from
Magdalene College in 1784. In 1786, through the influence of William Wilberforce
and Pitt, Johnson was appointed chaplain at New South Wales; his commission
was signed on 24 October. Two days before he had visited 250 of his future
charges on board the hulk at Greenwich. He sailed with the first fleet,
arrived on 26 January 1788 at Port Jackson, and shared in the early privations.
Governor
Phillip (q.v.) had first of all to find means of feeding and housing
the soldiers and convicts, and labour could not be spared for the building
of a church. Services were held in the open air and even four years later,
when Johnson appealed to Phillip for churches at both Sydney and Parramatta,
he had no success. Under lieutenant-governors Grose
(q.v.) and Paterson
(q.v.) Johnson was in even worse case. Grose made vague charges against
him, but brought no evidence to substantiate them, and Johnson made many
complaints about the treatment he received. He was married with a large
family, and with a salary of only £182 10s. a year he found it difficult
to pay his way. He was given a grant of land and worked it so successfully
with the help of some convict labour, that in November 1790 Captain
Tench (q.v.) called him the best farmer in the country. He planted seeds
of oranges and lemons he had obtained at Rio de Janeiro, which later on
produced good crops of fruit, and occasional references are found to his
having made a fortune by his farming; in all probability an overstatement
of the case, though he sold his land and stock to good advantage when he
left the colony. In June 1793, tired of waiting on the authorities, he began
to build a church himself, and by September completed a building capable
of holding 500 people at a cost of about £67. Even allowing for the
difference in the purchasing power of money and the comparative flimsiness
of the structure, this was a remarkable achievement. This church was burnt
down a few years later. An assistant chaplain, the Rev.
Samuel Marsden (q.v.), was appointed in the same year, and arrived early
in 1794; and henceforth Johnson had the support of a stronger personality
than his own. In 1794 he published An Address to the Inhabitants of the
Colonies established in New South Wales and Norfolk Island, and in 1800
obtained leave of absence to visit England. He sailed on the Buffalo in
October and did not return to Australia. In June 1802 King
in a dispatch said: "I understand that Rev'd Mr Johnson does not mean
to return." Practically he retired in 1802, but so late as July 1805
he appears on a list of officers as "On leave in England, no successor
or second clergyman appointed". In 1810 he was presented by the king
to the united parishes of St Antholin and St John Baptist, in London, and
at the time of his death he was also incumbent of Ingham in Norfolk. He
died on 13 March 1827.
Johnson was a good man within his limits, but had no great force of character, not much tact, and a habit of complaining. He worked under many difficulties as a clergyman but pluckily stuck to his post, and he also deserves great credit for his work as a cultivator, when the little community was often near the edge of starvation.
F. S. Whitington, William Grant Broughton, pp. 3-11; J. Bonwick, Australia's First Preacher; Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. I, pp. 7, 43, 119; G. A. Wood, ibid, Vol. XII, pp. 237-70; Walter Hibble, ibid, vol. III, pp. 265-71; Historical Records of N.S.W., vols I to V; Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vols I to V.
From Percival Serle's DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALIAN BIOGRAPHY
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