(CONSULTANT MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT)
(537)
Born in Leicester on 11 June 1941 and educated at the Evington Valley Infant School, Medway Street Junior School, Wyggeston Boys’ Grammar School and the Leicester College of Art and Technology, where he obtained his initial qualification. He later obtained further qualifications from the former Leicester Polytechnic and De Montfort University.
Initially, he was employed a management trainee with the Leicester firm of D. Byford and Co. Ltd., Hosiery Manufacturers. He then moved to become Divisional General Manager of Ladies Pride Group prior to becoming a Management Consultant. From 1979 to 1984 he was the Divisional Chief Accountant to the Fitch Loval Group before becoming a Consultant Management Accountant and Visiting Lecturer.
Married Miss Marion Mattly at St. Winifred’s Roman Catholic Church, Coalville, Leicestershire, on 30June 1963. Mrs Johnson was born at Ibstock, Leicestershire and was educated at the King Edward VII Grammar School, Coalville. She worked for the firm of D. Byford and Company Limited, where she met her future husband. They had two children, a son Paul and a daughter Clare.
Councillor Johnson, who became a member of the Conservative Party in 1956, was elected to the City Council in May 1976 as a Councillor for the Humberstone Ward. In May 1979, he was elected to represent the Evington Ward.
He served on a number of the Council’s major Committees, including Housing, Environmental Health and Public Control, Education, Finance, Recreation and the Works Committee. Councillor Johnson was appointed the Leader of the Conservative Group on the City Council in 1986, a position he held for four years. Previously he had been his Party’s Chief Whip for three years.
He had wide-ranging interests outside of his Council work and was awarded a Long Service Medal and the Medal of Merit for services to the Scout Association. The history of the City of Leicester was a particular interest and he was a member of several local historical societies. Councillor Johnson’s passion for sport resulted in him representing the Old Wyggestonians at both Rugby and Cricket.
Councillor Johnson served for many years on the Committee of the City of Leicester European Twinning Association. He was a Vice-President of the 8th Army Association and an Honorary Life Member of the Senior Service Association, in addition he was the Chairman of the Air Training Corps (City of Leicester Squadron).
A practising Catholic, Councillor Johnson worshipped at the Holy Cross Priory in the City.
Councillor Johnson was elected to the office of Lord Mayor of the City on 18 May 1995. He chose his wife Marion to be his Lady Mayoress.
Councillor Johnson had the distinction of meeting two members of the Royal Family during his Year of Office. He welcomed Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal when she visited Leicester on 13 September 1995 for a busy day of engagements. The Princess Royal visited the firm of Klynton Davis Limited, Clothing Manufacturers, Bardolph Street in her role as President of the British Knitting and Clothing Export Council, Her Royal Highness later launched the Small Businesses and Crime Initiative at the City Rooms and was given a guided tour of William Baker (Leicester) Limited, Hosiery Manufacturers, The Newarke. The Lord Mayor met The Princess Royal on a second occasion, on 19 March 1996, when she visited the Leicestershire Carers Centre on London Road. The following day he was presented to His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent during his visit to Virtuality Entertainment Limited at Brailsford Industrial Park.
An historic event occurred on 20 July 1995 when the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War was commemorated. Councillor Johnson attended a Service of Remembrance at Gilroes Cemetery followed by a parade of veterans at Victoria Park. A tea party for the veterans was hosted by the Lord Mayor in the De Montfort Hall gardens, and an eventful day was concluded by a firework display in the evening.
The City’s twinning links were strengthened during Councillor Johnson’s Year of Office with a Civic Visit to Leicester by the Oberburgermeister of Krefeld, Herr Dieter Putzhofen and a delegation in March 1996. The following month the Lord Mayor made a Civic Visit to Krefeld where he was a guest of the Oberburgermeister.
Contact with Kilkenny was maintained during the course of the Civic Year. In June 1995, Councillor Johnson received Senator Michael Lanagan, Mayor of Kilkenny and in September 1995, he visited Kilkenny where he was received by the new Mayor, Councillor Kieran Crottey.
In addition, the Lord Mayor also entertained delegations from the twin city of Strasbourg and welcomed the High Commissioners of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to Leicester.
The City’s military connections were marked by Councillor Johnson’s Civic Visits to the 7th Signal Regiment, Royal Corps of Signals in Krefeld during June and at their garrison near Mönchengladback in September 1995. Links with the Royal Navy were revived when 100 sailors from HMS Renown visited the City at the Lord Mayor’s invitation, during the weekend of the Remembrance Day Commemorations. Councillor Johnson hosted a reception in their honour and they, in return, took part in the Remembrance Day Parade. The Lord Mayor was honoured to be invited to the decommissioning of HMS Renown, on the Clyde on 24 February 1996 where he was joined by 70 ex-service men and women from Leicester.
Councillor Johnson’s Mayoralty will be remembered for his chosen Charity which was in support of the Macmillan Green Ribbon Appeal launched to build a new cancer centre at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. The Lord Mayor’s Appeal raised a sum in excess of £100,000.
Councillor Johnson’s Year of Office was concluded on 16 May 1996.
Three years later on 20 May 1999 Councillor Johnson was appointed High Bailiff of the City for the year 1999/2000.
On 21 June 2001 it was announced from the Vatican that His Holiness Pope John Paul II had appointed Councillor Johnson as a Knight of the Order of St Gregory (Civic Class) for services to the City of Leicester. He became Leicester’s first Papal Knight upon receiving the honour from the Right Reverend Malcolm McMahon, the Catholic Bishop of Nottingham, at Holy Cross Church, Leicester on 2 December 2001.
