John Johnson b. 5 Feb 1765 d. Abt 1831 Paris, , , France: The Maw family

1765 - Abt 1831 (65 years)

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Name	John Johnson [1, 2]
Birth	5 Feb 1765
Christening	13 Mar 1765	St Mary Staining, City of London, Middlesex, England [3]
Gender	Male
Misc	Source: https://technology.matthey.com/article/61/3/257-261/ Two Hundred Proud Years – the Bicentenary of Johnson Matthey Origins of the company and of today's research activities in science and technology The story of the first 200 years of Johnson Matthey is told. The firm was started in 1817 by Percival Johnson, but in 1851 George Matthey became a partner and the present name was derived from these two partners. A number of milestones in its illustrious history are reviewed, and some of the current activities of the company are brought up to date, in this short article.IntroductionThirty-five years ago a magisterial volume was published by Johnson Matthey on "A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals", but despite its title that book is also a history of the firm itself from 1817 to 1982 (1). The present account marks Johnson Matthey's bicentenary, and is much indebted to that volume; many aspects of the story have also been chronicled by Platinum Metals Review and its 2014 successor, the Johnson Matthey Technology Review. Appropriate references to these journals are given wherever possible. A Platinum Metals Review paper marking the firm's sesquicentenary was published in 1967 (2), and a recent paper notes that Johnson Matthey is one of the oldest British chemical firms still in existence (3). In this survey we concentrate on the firm's formative years and, while highlighting its activities with platinum group metals (pgms), include some of Johnson Matthey's considerable recent non-pgm activities.The Johnsons of Maiden LaneThe forebears of Percival Norton Johnson, who in 1817 became the founder of the precursor of Johnson Matthey, came from a family well acquainted with metal assaying and refining (4, 5). His grandfather John Johnson (1737– 1786) had since 1777 been an assayer of ores and metals, mostly silver, gold and some base metals, at No. 7, Maiden Lane (now part of Gresham Street between Wood Street and Foster Lane, London EC2). His son, also John Johnson (1765– 1831) was apprenticed to him in 1779, and on his father's death took over his business, becoming the only commercial assayer in London. Around 1800 he became involved with the rapidly developing platinum metals industry, using crude 'platina' smuggled to Britain via Jamaica from what is now Colombia. His biggest early customer was probably William Hyde Wollaston (1766– 1826) (6), who made many purchases of platina between 1802– 1819 from Johnson. Wollaston developed a secret process for isolating platinum so pure that it could be fashioned into crucibles, chalices and other vessels and drawn into wires much thinner than a human hair; this business made him wealthy. In addition to isolating rhodium and palladium in 1802 (6, 7), he sold to his friend and partner Smithson Tennant some ore from which Tennant in 1804 isolated iridium and osmium (8, 9).Percival Norton Johnson (1792– 1866), was born on 29th September 1792 at 6– 7 Maiden Lane and was apprenticed to his father John Johnson. In 1812, aged only 19, he established his scientific credentials in a paper showing that platinum alloyed with silver and gold would dissolve in nitric acid (10, 11).The Early Years of Percival Johnson's New FirmThe date of foundation of what 34 years later would be called Johnson Matthey is established as January 1st 1817 (1, 2). On that day Percival Johnson left his father's business and set up his own business as an 'Assayer and Practical Mineralogist' with his brother John Frederick as assistant, although he would later collaborate with his father (2). The year 1817 was also that in which Humphry Davy showed that a platinum wire (almost certainly provided by Johnson) would catalyse the combination of oxygen and hydrogen – the first demonstration of heterogeneous catalysis (12, 13).In 1818 Percival moved to 8 Maiden Lane and in 1822 to 79 Hatton Garden, the latter being expanded in 1850. In 1826 he brought in another talented assayer, John Stokes, renaming the firm Johnson and Stokes in 1832. When Stokes died in 1835, William John Cock (1813– 1892), like Percival Johnson a founder member of the Chemical Society in 1841 (14), joined Percival in the firm which was now called Johnson and Cock. William was the son of Thomas Cock (1782– 1842), Percival's brother-in-law, also an assayer.William Cock was a considerable chemist and metallurgist, devising a new procedure for increasing the malleability of platinum, and published 'On Palladium – Its Extraction, Alloys &c.' (15, 16) in one of the earliest of the Chemical Society's papers. Johnson and Cock produced a platinum medal for Queen Victoria's coronation in 1838, and in 1844 made the platinum from which the standard pound weight was made. Cock resigned in 1845 from ill-health, but continued collaboration; Johnson's firm was now called P. N. Johnson & Co (1).Johnson's Firm Renamed Johnson and Matthey
Misc	Eldest son of JJ-I: John Johnson II (JJ-II) born Feb 5th 1765 John Johnson II married Mary Wright (niece of Martha Wright) 1787 JJ-II died in Paris, 1831. In 1779 the 14 year old John Johnson II (JJ-II) was taken on as apprentice by his father for the statutory 7 years and was released from this aged 21, coincidentally the year his father died in July 1776. He took over the business and married his cousin Mary Wright in 1787. Principally an assayer, dealing in scrap bullion and some pharmaceuticals. The scrap bullion included "sweep metal" the product of the Sweep Washers who bought the rubbish and sweepings from work places which used precious metals and recovered these by a process of incineration and extraction with mercury. So even in the late 1700s silver (and gold) recovery was good business. The pharmaceutical side was mainly concerned with making a potion against scurvy, being an infusion of spoonwort grass. But this laid the foundations of the chemical business. In 1801 business expanded to include the assaying of ores and metals, reflecting the expansion of late 18th century exploration and exploitation of mineral wealth, culminating in the Industrial Revolution. The City of London was a centre for such enterprise. Of particular interest was the sale of native platinum. This element was much in demand by scientists, particularly Dr Wollaston (the inventor of the periscopic lens for the camera obscura) who purchased from him between 1800 and 1821 about a fifth of the 47,000 ounces in total he used for his work. The only source of platinum was the Spanish colony of New Granada (now Colombia) and as exports were not officially allowed, there was a vigorous smuggling trade in the ore with JJ-II as middleman. Likewise the presence of palladium (discovered in 1804) he noted in Brazilian gold. These precious metals became important in photographic toning processes later in the century.
_FSFTID	MQMC-CST
_FSLINK	https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MQMC-CST
_UID	82C8A5826F0444948B343429F09A9F43448C
Death	Abt 1831	Paris, , , France
Person ID	I9059	The Maw Family Tree
Last Modified	27 Mar 2023

Father	John Johnson, b. 1737 d. Jul 1786 (Age 49 years)
Mother	Martha Wight, b. Abt 1740 d. Abt 1781 (Age 41 years)
Marriage	8 May 1760	St Martin In The Fields, Westminster, London, , England
	First name(s) Martha Last name Wight Residence St Martin In The Fields Marriage year 1760 Parish St Martin-In-The-Fields Spouse's first name(s) John Spouse's last name Johnson Spouse residence St Martin In The Fields County Middlesex Country England Archive City of Westminster Archives Centre Record set Westminster Marriages Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers) Subcategory Parish Marriages Collections from England, United Kingdom Westminster Archives Transcriptions Â© brightsolid online publishing First name(s) Martha Last name Wight Name note - Marriage year 1760 Marriage date 08 May 1760 Marriage place Westminster Spouse's first name(s) John Spouse's last name Johnson Spouse's age - County Middlesex Country England Record set England Marriages 1538-1973 Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers) Subcategory Parish Marriages Collections from England, United Kingdom Index (c) IRI. Used by permission of FamilySearch Intl First name(s) Martha Last name Wight Residence St Martin In The Fields Marriage year 1760 Parish St Martin-In-The-Fields Spouse's first name(s) John Spouse's last name Johnson Spouse residence St Martin In The Fields County Middlesex Country England Archive City of Westminster Archives Centre Record set Westminster Marriages Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers) Subcategory Parish Marriages Collections from England, United Kingdom Westminster Archives Transcriptions Â© brightsolid online publishing
Family ID	F28109	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Mary Wight, b. Abt 1767, Maiden Lane, London, , Greater London, England d. 2 Mar 1863, Richmond, , Surrey, England (Age 96 years)

Marriage License 8 Nov 1787 [6]

First name(s) JOHN Last name JOHNSON Licence year 1787 Licence date 08 Nov 1787 New calender date 08 Nov 1787 Bride's first name(s) Mary Bride's last name WIGHT Groom's first name(s) John Groom's last name JOHNSON Place Dioceses of England & Wales Record set Faculty Office Marriage Licences Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers) Subcategory Marriages & divorces Collections from United Kingdom

Marriage 9 Nov 1787 Battersea, , London, England [7]

First name(s)      Mary
Last name      Wight
Licence year      1787
Licence date      08 Nov 1787
New calender date      08 Nov 1787
Bride's first name(s)      Mary
Bride's last name      WIGHT
Groom's first name(s)      John
Groom's last name      JOHNSON
Place      Dioceses of England & Wales
Country      England & Wales
Record set      Faculty Office Marriage Licences
Category      Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)
Subcategory      Parish Marriages
Collections from      England, United Kingdom, Wales
Society of Genealogists
Transcriptions Â© Society of Genealogists

First name(s)      Mary
Last name      Wight
Marriage year      1787
Marriage date      09 Nov 1787
Marriage place      Battersea
By licence or banns      By Licence
Spouse's first name(s)      John
Spouse's last name      Johnson
Spouse's residence      LND St Mary Staining
Source      Parish Register Transcripts
County      Surrey
Country      England
Record set      Surrey Marriages
Category      Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)
Subcategory      Parish Marriages
Collections from      England, United Kingdom
West Surrey Family History Society
copyright West Surrey Family History Society

Children

	1. John Percival Johnson, b. 16 Jun 1789, London, , Greater London, England d. Abt 1807 (Age 17 years)
	2. Charles Johnson, b. 6 Jul 1790, City of London, Middlesex, England d. Abt 1815 (Age 24 years)
	3. Percival Norton Johnson, b. 29 Sep 1792, City of London, Middlesex, England d. 1 Jun 1866, Stoke House, Stoke Fleming, , Devonshire, England (Age 73 years)
	4. Mary Anne Johnson, b. 2 Jun 1794, London, , Greater London, England d. Between Jul and Sep 1853, District Madeley
	5. John Frederick Johnson, b. 30 Sep 1798, City of London, Middlesex, England d. 20 Aug 1879, Kensington, London, , England (Age 80 years)
	6. Jane Johnson, b. 4 Aug 1804, Maiden Lane, London, , Greater London, England d. 9 Dec 1860, Richmond, , Surrey, England (Age 56 years)
	7. Martha Johnson, b. 21 Sep 1805, Stoke Newington, , Middlesex, England d. 23 Jun 1821 (Age 15 years)
	8. George Richard Johnson, b. 14 Jul 1807, Stoke Newington, , Middlesex, England d. 11 Sep 1872, Sturry, , Kent, England (Age 65 years)
	9. Arthur Harry Johnson, b. 8 Apr 1809, St Mark, Kensington, London, , England d. 27 Oct 1855, District Lambeth (Age 46 years)

Family ID F2723 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Last Modified 27 Mar 2023

Sources

[S171] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), (Copyright (c) 1980, 2002), citing microfilm 0094717 (1559 - 1812) for batch P015581, printout call number 0094717, (Film), sheet 00, downloaded 4 Feb 2007 (Reliability: 3).
[S171] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), (Copyright (c) 1980, 2002), citing microfilm 0094717 (1559 - 1812) for batch P015581, sheet 00, downloaded 4 Feb 2007 (Reliability: 3).
[S356] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (http://new.familysearch.org), ((http://new.familysearch.org)), accessed 27 Mar 2023), entry for John Johnson, person ID MQMC-CST. (Reliability: 3).
[S39] Websites, https://technology.matthey.com/article/61/3/257-261/ (Reliability: 3).
[S39] Websites, https://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Johnsons_of_Hendon/JoH_History.html (Reliability: 3).
[S536] Society of Genealogists, Faculty Office Marriage Licences Transcription, (Society of Genealogists Transcriptions © Society of Genealogists) (Reliability: 3).
First name(s) JOHN Last name JOHNSON Licence year 1787 Licence date 08 Nov 1787 New calender date 08 Nov 1787 Bride's first name(s) Mary Bride's last name WIGHT Groom's first name(s) John Groom's last name JOHNSON Place Dioceses of England & Wales Record set Faculty Office Marriage Licences Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers) Subcategory Marriages & divorces Collections from United Kingdom
[S537] West Surrey Family History Society, Surrey Marriages Transcription, (West Surrey Family History Society copyright West Surrey Family History Society) (Reliability: 3).
First name(s) John Last name Johnson Residence LND St Mary Staining Marriage year 1787 Marriage date 09 Nov 1787 Marriage place Battersea By licence or banns By Licence Spouse's first name(s) Mary Spouse's last name Wight Source Parish Register Transcripts County Surrey Country England Record set Surrey Marriages Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers) Subcategory Marriages & divorces Collections from United Kingdom

The Maw Family

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John Johnson