Early Life
Walter Rankin Johnson was born in the 11
th of July 1787 and baptised on the 27
th of the same month; he was the second son of
Benjamin John Johnson and
Ann Paterson
Walter attended Westminster School between 1797 and 1805 and then went to Trinity College, Cambridge in May 1805.
Career
After completing his studies in 1812,
Walter was ordained deacon in Bristol in 1813 and later priest (in London) in 1815. From then until about 1832, his life is a bit of a mystery, but we know that eventually he ended up in
West Wycombe, where he was the Stipendiary Curate, most likely for the church of
St Lawrence. This church is a bit of a film star, having been used as a location for Downtown Abbey and Bridget Jones’s Baby.
The following description of West Wycombe is taken from
A Topographical Dictionary of England, written in 1848:
... a parish, in the union of Wycombe, hundred of Desborough, county of Buckingham, 2½ miles (N. W. by W.) from Wycombe; containing 2002 inhabitants, many of whom are employed in lace-making and the manufacture of chairs. The parish comprises by measurement 6,356 acres, of which 4,285 are arable, 441 meadow and pasture, 1,048 woodland, and 582 common. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 9. 7.; net income, £250; patron and impropriator, Sir J. Dashwood King, Bart. The church, which is surrounded by an ancient intrenchment, was erected in 1763, at the expense of Lord le Despenser, and is an elegant structure in the Grecian style, with a profusion of Mosaic work, and some handsome monuments. In an adjoining mausoleum is a monument of considerable beauty to the memory of Sarah, Baroness le Despenser, with many memorials of the Dashwood family and others: within one of its recesses was deposited, in 1775, an urn inclosing the heart of Paul Whitehead, the poet, which he had bequeathed to Lord le Despenser. The church occupies an eminence finely clothed with woods, emerging from which the tower and the mausoleum form objects strikingly picturesque. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. In the neighbourhood is an ancient camp, doubly intrenched, called Desborough Castle, which gives name to the hundred; vestiges of buildings, together with stone windowframes similar to those of a church, have been discovered on its site.
A History of the County of Buckingham (Vol 3) notes this of the church of St Lawrence:
The isolated position of the church of St. Lawrence with the mausoleum (which is described elsewhere) has given rise to much comment, including the spiteful remark of John Wilkes, who writes (c. 1765), 'I returned by West Wycombe and passed a day in viewing the villa of Lord Le Despencer, and the church he has just built on the top of a hill, for the convenience and devotion of the town at the bottom of it. I must own the noble lord's gardens gave me no stronger idea of his virtue or patriotism than the new built church did of his piety.' This statement was based on a misconception, for Lord Le Despenser built his church on the site of an older one. Perhaps some solution of the curious position chosen may be found if it is remembered that the church was originally built not to supply the needs of the present village only, but of the numerous tithings (of which the village was only one) into which the widely scattered manor was divided. The hill which was chosen for the site of the church was not in the tithing of Wycombe, but in that of Haveryngdon, as is proved by a patent of 1393 in which Robert Hemyngford makes complaint that William Saunderton and others came armed to West Wycombe, lay in wait to kill him, and assaulted and threw him down from the top of a hill called 'Haveryngdoune'; and here it is not out of place to note that Haveryngdon, whose use as an alternative name to West Wycombe has been much discussed by local historians, is only used in documents relating to the church or matters ecclesiastical.
Just below the east end of the church is the great mausoleum erected in 1763 by Lord Le Despenser as a burial place for his family. It is hexagonal in plan and has columns of the Tuscan order supporting an entablature. Inside are niches which contain monumental urns to the memory of various members of the Dashwood family and others.
Half-way up the hill is a cave excavated by the same Lord Le Despenser; it penetrates for nearly a quarter of a mile into the chalky cliff, and the entrance is marked by an artificial ruin. In this cave, which attracts many curious sightseers, it is said some of the Medmenham mysteries and orgies were held after the dissolution of the club at the abbey.
Family Life
Walter seems to have married incredibly late - at the age of 53 in 1840 (by contrast, his brother William Fountain Johnson married in 1827). Walter married
Louisa Stephens, daughter of
Joseph Stephens and
Susannah Beaumont, of
Dilwyn, Herefordshire. Their children
Walter and
Isabelle were born a couple of years later (1842 and 1843)
Death
Walter Rankin Johnson died, aged just 57 on the 27
th of October 1844 (soon after the birth of his daughter Isabelle), apparently of an ulceration of the stomach. He obviously had some inkling of the severity of his illness as he had only recently prepared a will on the 10
th July 1844. It reads as follows:
This is the last Will & Testament of me the Rev Walter Rankin Johnson late of Connaught Square in the parish of Paddington in the county of Middlesex, curate of West Wycombe in the County of Buckingham.
I give and bequeath to my Son Walter forty shares of 100£ cash now standing in my name in the books of a Society called “The Reversionary Interest Society”. The said shares to be invested In the names of Trustees for his benefit who shall be appointed by my wife within six months after my decease. It is my desire that the dividends arising therefrom or from year to year invested in the [?] funds & from all anniversary funds in the names of the said trustees for his benefit, the said shares and the anniversary funds arising therefrom to be transferred to my said son Walter on his attaining the age of twenty one years. I give and bequeath to my daughter Isabella Anne thirty shares in the Reversionary Interest Society to be invested in the names of Trustees for her benefit & the interest to form an anniversary fund as in the former case with shares & interest to be paid to my said daughter on her attaining the age of twenty one years.
I give & bequeath to my dear brother William Fountain Johnson one hundred pounds.
I give to my wife Louisa Johnson all my plate, linen, carriages, house furniture & other effects in my dwellinghouse for her absolute benefit. And as to the Remainder of my property of whatever nature it may be I give it to my dear wife after payment of my debts and legacies for her use and benefit during her life and at her decease to be given to my children to be equally divided among them. And in case of my wife intending to enter into any second marriage then before such marriage takes place I direct that she appoint Trustees of my property for the benefit of my children so that the same be not wasted or made away with.
And I do hereby appoint my dear wife Executrix of this my last Will. As witness thereof I have hereby set & submitted my hand and seal this tenth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & forty four.
WR Johnson
Signed sealed published & declared by the said Testator in the presence of we who at his request in his presence & in the presence of each other have herewith subscribed our names as witnesses thereto.
Lawrence J Stephens Dilwyn Herefordshire
HS Stephens Spinster Dilwyn
The first witness would have been the Rev. Lawrence Johnstone Stephens, Walter's brother-in-law. The second was probably Harriet Susan Stephens, his sister-in-law. It's interesting that he had no witnesses from his own side of the family (e.g. his brother William Fountain Johnson).
1787 - 1844 (57 years)
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