Geoffrey Barham Johnson
Location:
All Saints
Church Lane,
Welborne,
Norfolk,
NR20 3LN
Details on Cross:
IN MEMORY OF
CAPTAIN G. B. JOHNSON
7th BATT. NORFOLK REGT.
KILLED IN ACTION
22.11.15
RIP
Text type: Hand-painted text.
Cross dimensions
Shaft Height:1670mm
Width of wood:780mm
Cross beam width: 100mm
Width of wood: 84mm
Thickness or depth: 25mm
Circle plate (if celtic type)
Outer diameter: 490mm
Width of circle: 100mm
Thickness: 25mm
Other information
Mounting to wall: None.
Detailing: Carved finials.
Evidence of use in field:, slight discolouration and cracking.
Finish: painted white, appears old, probably original
Condition: generally good, there is some holing to the cross which might be field damage, one piece of the cross member is missing (LHS facing). The top point is slightly knurled, maybe from a mallet impact to hammer it into the ground.
Notes and observations:
The marker is available for public view on request, particularly during open churches week which was when the report took place (by coincidence. Having previously visited when the church was unlocked but nobody was available to unlock the vestry where it is kept. The church is a rather lovely building and worth spending some time with. More information on the church available at Simon Knott’s Norfolk Churches site. Parking is somewhat limited and it is quite well hidden.
There was a bit of a question regarding where this cross was with rumours of it being in Mattishall and Ashill amongst other places that relate to the Barham-Johnson Family in Norfolk. The church was restored by Geoffrey’s grandfather.
From Norfolk Churches
“At the north-west corner of the nave is a memorial to Henry Barham-Johnson, son of the restoring Barham Johnson. Henry followed his father as Rector here. One of Henry’s own sons, Geoffrey, was killed in the First World War. Another son, John, was a popular composer of piano and church music. Both are remembered on the memorial with him. Out in the porch window there is a curious survival, a smattering of medieval stained glass fragments. They came from the same collection as the great sequence of Saints and Martyrdoms in the church at North Tuddenham. They were found in a builder’s yard in Dereham in the 1880s, and were bought for fifty shillings. The bulk was installed at North Tuddenham, but the Rector gave the odd bits left over to Welborne. Some of the fragments of inscription here match bits of inscription in the other church, and are part of a massive sequence of the life and martyrdom of St Margaret. No one knows where it all came from originally. It must have been a big church.”
Biographical information:
Geoffrey was an Alumni of Jesus College Cambride, some of his photos are archived on their website here. More here at Mattishall online
From CWGC:
Rank: Captain
Date of Death: 23/11/1915
Age: 22
Regiment/Service: Norfolk Regiment 7th Bn.
Grave Reference: I. L. 2.
Cemetery: VERMELLES BRITISH CEMETERY
Additional Information: Son of the Rev. Henry Barham Johnson and Catharine Bodham Johnson, of Welborne, East Dereham, Norfolk. A graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge.
Survey and photographs courtesy of Nick Stone.
Thanks to Caroline Rawlings, Diocese of Norwich for information regarding this marker and obtaining access.
Date of Survey: 11/8/16
