Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnson, Henry (1698?-1760)
JOHNSON, HENRY (1698?–1760), traveller, born about 1698, was eldest son of William Johnson (d. 1718), captain-general of the Royal African Company at Cape Coast Castle, by Agneta, his wife (Lysons, Environs, iii. 465; will of W. Johnson, P. C. C. 218, Tenison). In early life he resided in various parts of South America in the service of the South Sea Company, and returned to England with a large fortune. On 31 Aug. 1720 he was elected F.S.A., and in 1730 communicated to the society a wonderful account of the body of a pigmy found in Peru, with 400,000 dollars ([Gough] Chronological List of Soc. Antiq., 1798). In 1724 he published ‘Romulus,’ a tragedy, translated from the French of La Motte. He ultimately fixed his residence at Berkhampstead St. Peter, Hertfordshire, where he amused himself during the winter months by translating from the Spanish Feyjoo's ‘Discourses,’ of which a selection appeared in the ‘Lady's Magazine’ in 1760. From the same language he translated ‘A … Relation of the … Earthquake which happen'd at Lima … and the Port of Callao on the 28th of October 1746. … Published at Lima by command of the Viceroy,’ 2nd edit. 8vo, London, 1748; to the description of Peru, which made up the remainder of the volume, he contributed drawings made by himself on the spot (Duncombe, Letters, 2nd edit., iii. 37–54). Johnson died at Berkhampstead St. Peter on 12 May 1760, aged 61, and was buried in the church (Clutterbuck, Hertfordshire, i. 305). By his wife Lætitia (d. 1784), daughter of John Dowling of St. Andrew, Holborn, he had three daughters: Lætitia, the second wife of Sir William Beauchamp Proctor, bart.; Agneta, the second wife of Charles Yorke (1712–1770), the lord chancellor; and Henrietta (ib. i. 159, 212; will in P. C. C. 430, Lynch).
[Baker's Biog. Dramat. (Reed and Jones), i. 402, iii. 224.]