Background
Johnson was born in Chilvers Coton, which was then a small village near the town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, the youngest son of John Johnson, a collier.
Johnson was born in Chilvers Coton, which was then a small village near the town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, the youngest son of John Johnson, a collier.
Studied at Collycroft School. Factory worker twenty years, with brief intervals colliery worker with father.
He sat in the House of Commons from 1906 to 1918. In 1885 Johnson became secretary to the Warwickshire Miners Association. After serving on several local bodies he was elected to Warwickshire County Council for Bedworth, becoming an alderman by 1916, by which times he was also chairman of Bedworth Parish Council, treasurer of the Midland Miners Federation, a Free and Accepted Mason of the Grand Lodge of England, a Justice of the Peace (Justice of the Peace) for Warwickshire, and a governor of the Nicholas Chamberlain School Foundation.
He first stood for election to Parliament at the 1892 general election, when he unsuccessfully contested the Tamworth division of Warwickshire as a Liberal-Laboratory candidate, where he lost by a large margin of 31% of the votes to the Conservative Party Member of Parliament Philip Muntz.
He was unsuccessful again at the 1900 general election, when he contested the Nuneaton division, but by a narrower margin of 12.8%. Although first elected as a Liberal party (Liberal-Laboratory) Member of Parliament, Johnson was required to take the Labour party whip in 1909.
This was because of a decision by the Miners Federation of Great Britain, to affiliate to the Labour party. This decision was not popular with the Warwickshire Miners Association or Johnson"s local Constituency Party, which refused to affiliate to the Labour party.
In 1914, Labour party Headquarters in London decided to set up a rival Constituency party in Nuneaton and Johnson continued to sit in parliament as a Liberal.
28th United Kingdom Parliament. 29th United Kingdom Parliament. 30th United Kingdom Parliament.