Harby Johnson

Harby Johnson was born in Leadenham in 1880.  His parents were Willy (a baker from Willoughby) and Elizabeth Ann (from Ashby).  They were in Feathers Yard in 1881, in Main St in 1891 and High St in 1901.  The family went in for unusual names.  Harby had a sister Sabine and a brother called Fred Mountain Johnson.

He married Sarah Ann Garner in 1907 in Nottingham.  By 1911 they were at 5 Handel St, Sneinton, where he was a baker/confectioner.  They had a son, Harby William Johnson in Apr 1915.

In the Great War Harby served as a baker with the Army Service Corps from 1917 before being transferred to 2nd Battalion, Manchester Regiment.  He was killed in action on 4th Nov 1918 (exactly a week before the armistice) during the battle to cross the Sambre-Oise canal and is buried at Ors.  The cemetery contains the graves of many men from the Battalion were killed the same day, including 2Lt James Kirk who was awarded a posthumous VC and the poet Lt Wilfred Owen.

In 1939 Sarah was still running the grocers shop at 5 Handel St.  Their son Harby was living with her and working as an accounts clerk.   Harby married in 1953 and died in Nottingham in 1997, aged 82.