Background
Johnstone was born in Bebington, then in Cheshire and educated at Eton, where he was captain of the boats, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Pitt Club.
Johnstone was born in Bebington, then in Cheshire and educated at Eton, where he was captain of the boats, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Pitt Club.
Eton College; Trinity College.
He rowed for Cambridge in the Boat Race in 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1907, being in the winning crew three times he was once President of the Cambridge University Boating Club
He twice beat Julius Beresford and Karl Vernon. He also competed in the Grand Challenge Cup in a series of contests with the Belgian Royal Club Nautique de Gand, being twice on the winning side. In 1909 Johnstone joined the Ceylon Government Surveys and in 1913 joined the Colonial Civil Service in Zanzibar.
At the start of World War I he was in the Transport Corps in East Africa, but went to France in 1917 with the 1st Black Watch and 1st Infantry Brigade.
He was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services in France and Belgium. Foreign many years Johnstone was the rowing correspondent for the Daily Telegraph.
Johnstone died in Bournemouth at the age of 81.