Agnes Joan Johnson nee Monckton (1894-1972)

My maternal grandmother:

Agnes Joan Monckton 

My Musical, Fun-Loving Grandmother

Agnes Joan Monckton (generally known as Joan) was born at Uppingham, Rutland on 5 September 1894[1], the oldest child of Agnes Elliott Campbell and Thomas Edward Monckton. I know nothing of her childhood. Her father was a school master at Uppingham but where Joan was educated I do not know. In the 1901 census she is recorded as being with her parents in Uppingham[2] but the 1911 census has her recorded as being in Deal, Kent[3] with her two sisters and their governess, Mary Jane Farrand; her occupation being recorded as “school”. Thomas and Agnes were recorded as being in Uppingham[4]. I know that they eventually retired to Deal so perhaps the house was a long-standing family one; or had been purchased by Thomas with a view to retirement. I do not know if that was where Joan was attending school or if they were simply there on holiday, or similar.

It was at Uppingham that she will have met her future husband John Barham Johnson (Jack) after he took up a teaching post there in about 1913. Extracts from his letters frequently mention her[5]. They married on 10 April 1923 at St Andrew’s Church, Deal, Kent[6] (so Deal was obviously important to the family).

Joan was an accomplished violin player[7] which she taught along with the piano[8]. There are references in Jack’s letters to his desire to have her piano teaching done by his methods[9]. In the 1939 National Register her occupation is recorded as “teacher of music”[10] unlike the more usual “unpaid domestic duties” associated with many a housewife. She was a long-standing member of the Shewsbury Orchestral Society[11].






Jack and Joan’s home in Porthill Drive, not far from Shrewsbury School, was quite a large one and according to my mother very much open house[12]. I remember it being homely and welcoming, and Joan being a very indulgent grandmother. As children we were allowed to play table tennis on the beautiful, polished dining room table which took up much of the front of the house. That we frequently thumped the table surface with our bats didn’t seem to matter a jot.

Joan also had a fairly wicked sense of humour. She stayed on at the Porthill house for a few years after Jack died and on the few occasions that I visited her we would share thoroughly politically incorrect jokes. The house was really too large for just one person to occupy and she moved to a smaller place a few streets away. She died on 11 August 1972[13].

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[1] Birth registration GRO reference 1894 Dec Uppingham 7A 349.

[2] 1901 England and Wales census RG13/3016/7/6.

[3] 1911 England and Wales census RG14/4572/64/4/9/405.

[4] 1911 England and Wales census RG14/19394/410/1/2/8.

[5] Nathalie Ruth Barham Chalker (née Johnson) scrap book to Jack.

[6] Marriage registration GRO reference 1923 Jun Eastry 2A 2307.

[7] Undocumented conversation with Jean Barham Bawden (née Johnson).

[8] Obituary notice Shropshire Star August 15 1972 p17.

[9] Nathalie Ruth Barham Chalker (née Johnson) scrap book to Jack.

[10] 1939 National Register RG 101/5183F/033/18.

[11] Obituary notice Shropshire Star August 15 1972 p17.

[12] Jean Barham Bawden (née Johnson) autobiographical notes, above.

[13] Death registration GRO reference 1972 Sep Shrewsbury 9A 486

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