Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2023 December 11

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December 11

Eric Gill and the Johnston family

I would be very interested in any information on the connections between Eric Gill, Edward Johnston and the wider Johnston family. We know that Gill studied under Edward Johnston and shared a house with him in London in 1902/3. In 1923, Gill created the Johnston Monument at St Mary's Gilston, Hertfordshire, which commemorates Lieutenant Geoffrey Stewart Johnston and his parents, and in 1927 Gill designed the memorial to Harry Johnston at St Nicholas', Poling, West Sussex.[1] My guess is that Edward Johnston was related to these other Johnstons, as part of a family that seems to have made its money through coffee importation from South America, and that his connection to Gill led to the two monuments. I would be very grateful for any details which could be provided/suggestions as to sources I might investigate. Thanks in advance. KJP1 (talk) 11:06, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

I think we're talking about three Johnston families which are either entirely unrelated to each other or only very distantly related. You can follow the links at Wikitree (not a useable source on WP, of course) [2] to find that Geoffrey Stewart Johnston was son of Reginald Eden Johnston, son of Edward Johnston, son of Francis Johnston, son of James Johnston, son of Francis Johnston of Cummertrees, Dumfriesshire. Harry Johnston says in his autobiography [3] that he was son of John Brookes Johnston, son of John Johnston, son of George Dell Johnston, son of John Johnston of Glasgow. According to our article on him, Edward Johnston was son of Fowell Buxton Johnston, son of Andrew Johnston, M.P., and according to The History of Parliament [4] this Andrew Johnston was son of Andrew Johnston, son of Andrew Johnston of Rennyhill, Fife. The fact that all three of the men you name have the same surname and a connection with Eric Gill seems to be no more than a coincidence. --Antiquary (talk) 21:25, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

First, thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to have a look at this. It is interesting that all three were Lowland Scots in origin. The thing about artistic/architectural patronage is that there very often is a personal connection which leads Patron X to chose Artist Y. Thus, for me, it’s an unlikely coincidence that three unrelated Johnstons knew Gill and independently selected him for things as personal as grave monuments. I shall just have to keep looking. Thanks again. KJP1 (talk) 08:59, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

Clan Johnstone "once one of the most powerful of the Border Reiver Scottish clans". This website (not sure how reliable) says that there are 65,000 people with that surname worldwide. This one says that there are 23,000 people called Johnstne in the UK and quotes an 1860 source: "For a local [Dumfriesshire and Renfrewshire] surname this is exceedingly common". Alansplodge (talk) 18:20, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm normally happy to get into family history (e.g. the Duffields and Maryons here) but I have found no clear and obvious link between these Johnstons, back several generations. Perhaps they are distant cousins, or related by marriage somewhere, but you'd need to do full family trees, or be lucky to find a link.

The name is not that unusual - would you assume a close family relationship if they were called Macdonald? Or came from Wales and were all called Jones? Theramin (talk) 01:13, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

well, the Scottish heralds do. —Tamfang (talk) 19:23, 17 December 2023 (UTC)