William Percy Johnson (1883-1948)
1948 Obituary [1]
"WE have to record, with regret, the death of Mr. William Percy Johnson, which occurred suddenly at Brussels, on Saturday, October 2nd. Mr. Johnson was chief of the Programming Division of the Secretariat of the Inter-Allied Reparation Agency in Brussels.
Mr. Johnson was born in Liverpool in 1883, and received his early education at the Merchant Taylors School, Great Crosby, Liverpool. He was apprenticed to the firm of C. and H. Crichton, and on completing his training came to London and studied at the Royal College of Science, gaining the Associateship of the College, and a 1907 Whitworth Exhibition. After a period in the drawing office of the British Westinghouse and Electrical Manufacturing Company, Ltd., of Manchester, he became a private research engineer to Major A. Musgrave at East Grinstead, whom he subsequently accompanied to Malta. There, in 1913, he started his own business as a ship and motor repairing firm, in partnership with Mr. J . Downs. In 1917 the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Johnson returned to this country to take a position at the Loughborough College, as head of the automobile engineering department. He continued to occupy that post until he joined, in 1925, the editorial staff of our contemporary journal, Engineering....Read more"
1949 Obituary [2]
"WILLIAM PERCY JOHNSON, Wh.Ex., whose death occurred at Brussels on 2nd October 1948, was for fifteen years a valued member of the editorial staff of Engineering. He was born in Liverpool in 1883 and received his general education at the Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby.
On the completion of a five years' apprenticeship with Messrs. C. and H. Crichton, Ltd., marine engineers, Liverpool, in 1905, he came to London and began a course of study at the Royal College of Science, where he gained an Associateship, and a Whitworth Exhibition in 1907. After some experience as a junior draughtsman with the British Westinghouse and Electrical Manufacturing Company, Ltd., at Manchester, he became private research engineer to Major A. Musgrave, R.E., whom he subsequently accompanied to Malta, where in 1914 he entered into partnership with Mr. J. Downs and established the firm of Downs and Johnson, marine engineers and shipbuilders.
On the dissolution of the partnership four years later Mr. Johnson returned to this country and became head of the Department of Automobile Engineering at Lough borough College, a position he retained until he joined the staff of Engineering in 1925. As sub-editor he was responsible for numerous articles dealing in particular with internal combustion engines and machine tools. In 1940 he accepted an invitation to join the Economic Intelligence Branch of the Ministry of Economic Warfare, as a technical expert on engineering and armament production in Germany. He was a member of the Allied Commission on Reparations which met in Moscow in 1945 and later was a member of the Economic Advisory Board which was set up in Berlin. In 1946 he was appointed Director General of the Research and Intelligence Department of the Inter-Allied Reparation Agency in Brussels, and two years later he became Programming Consultant to the Secretary-General with the chairmanship of the International Committee making recommendations on the detailed allocation of reparations plant. Mr. Johnson was elected a Member of the Institution of Automobile Engineers in 1920. He was also an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers."