Person record for Johnson, Joseph

Johnson, Joseph

Diary Appearances
Biographical Details
Editorial Notes
Bibliography
Acquaintances

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This person is mentioned in the diary a total of 413 times, but was not at home (N) 23 times, and was a venue (V) 324 times.

You may also examine their meals and meetings in more detail.

Name: Johnson, Joseph
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 15 November 1738
Death Date: 20 December 1809
Occupation: bookseller

Thus far, all the Johnsons have been grouped together under the tag JOH01, although there are many variations. However, of the more than four hundred and fifty mentions of the name, the majority probably refer to the publisher Joseph Johnson. Godwin’s Diary has long been ‘the chief source of subjects discussed and the names of those present at Johnson’s dinners…the first recorded dinner at Johnson’s on 13 November 1791 when Godwin met Mary Wollstonecraft and enjoyed the company too of Thomas Paine, he lists the topics of discussion as ‘monarch, Tooke, {Samuel} Johnson, Voltaire, pursuits, and religion’(Tyson, Joseph Johnson, A Liberal Publisher, pp. 121-122). Godwin is a regular guest at the Johnson dinners after 1797. Godwin’s Considerations on Lord Grenville’s and Mr Pitt’s Bills (1795) was turned down by Robinson, and Godwin ‘noticeably strayed’ on to Johnson’s list (p. 152). In 1798, Johnson was imprisoned for selling a ‘seditious’ pamphlet that ‘denounced the prolonged war between England and France and was said to greet the prospect of an invasion with enthusiasm’ (Helen Braithwaite, Romanticism, Publishing and Dissent, p. xii – xiii). According to Braithwaite, in August 1799 Johnson was released after spending 9 months at the King’s Bench where Godwin called 6 times (p. 169). This is consistent with the diary, where Godwin notes on the 29th November, 1798: ‘tea Johnson's, K B P , w. Fuselis, Newnum and J J : Chandler dines’. There’s also an R(obert) Johnson who appears around this time – possibly a relative? According to the DNB, Johnson had ‘no direct heirs’, leaving his business and shares to his great-nephews Roland Hunter and John Miles. However, the circle still convened at St Paul’s Churchyard after Joseph Johnson’s death, and Tyson points out that ‘To his nephew and namesake, Joseph Johnson, he left £10,000. A like amount went to his niece, Mary Miles,the mother of John, his grandnephew and successor, who also received a bequest of £10,000.’(Tyson, Joseph Johsnon, a Liberal Publisher, p. 213). This accounts for the Jos. Johnson and J. J. entries which appear after the publisher’s death in 1809, such as this one from 1811: 25. F. Call on Christ’s Hospital , and mrs Woodham : dine at Johnson’s , w. Fuseli, Bonnycastle, Knowles, Crombie, Joyce, Aspland and Kinder . mt Montagu. It appears that the circle still convened, generally at St Paul’s Churchyard on a Friday with the known Joseph Johnson ‘regulars’ including Fuseli and Bonnycastle. Others joined in at this point, such as the journalist Leigh Hunt who had recently married Roland Hunter’s step-daughter.

It is possible that Johnson had some role in holding money in trust for Fanny Imlay after Wollstonecraft's death.

Johnson's left uncoded include: R Johnson (1795-04-18)
Johnson senr (1798-08-14)
C Johnsons (1801-02-25)
Dr Johnson (1802-01-06)
Johnson jr (1802-08-16)
Edw. Johnson of Mile-End (1802-09-07)
Johnson’s, Purser’s Crs (1806-07-20)
Johnson’s, P C (1806-10-26)
F Johnson (1812-06-23) F Johnson (1812-07-01) Johnsons (1813-08-22) Johnson (1819-12-23) Johnson (1827-02-16) Johnson of Manchester (1832-04-30)

Godwin records his death.

DNB
Gerald P. Tyson, Joseph Johnson: A Liberal Publisher (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1979)
Helen Braithwaite, Romanticism, Publishing and Dissent: Joseph Johnson and the Cause of Liberty (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.

Name	Number of Meetings
Fuseli, Henry (Johann Heinrich Füssli)	136
Bonnycastle, John	105
Knowles, John	21
Hewlett, Reverend John	13
Edgeworth, Richard Lovell	11
Hunter, Captain	10
Lockhart,	9
Chalmers, Alexander	8
Hollis, John	7
Davy, Sir Humphry	7
Mullet, Thomas	7
Lindsay, Dr James	5
Godwin, Mary Jane (Clairmont) (née de Vial)	4
Miles, John	4
Marshall, James	4
Aikin, Arthur	4
Aikin, John	4
Barbauld, Rochemont	4
Courtenay, John (Courtney)	4
Malthus, Rev Thomas Robert	4
Wollstonecraft, Mary (Godwin)	3
Barbauld, Anna Letitia (née Aikin)	3
Gregory, George	3
Cartwright, John	3
Holcroft, Thomas	3
Mackintosh, Sir James (of Kyllachy)	2
Wordsworth, William	2
V, P	2
Sharp, Richard (Conversation Sharp)	2
Eaton, Daniel Isaac	2
Barlow, Joel	2
Edgeworth, Maria	2
Henry, Thomas	2
	2
Mills, Alfred	2
Horne Tooke, John	2
Robinson, George	2
Opie, John	2
Southey, Robert	2
Hoare, Prince	2
Stewart, John (Walking Stewart)	2
Geddes, Dr Alexander	2
Parr, Samuel	2
Damiani, F	1
Elwes, Sarah	1
Constable, Archibald	1
Brown, William Cullen	1
Moore, James (Carrick-Moore)	1
Miller,	1
Tobin, James Webbe	1
Woodhouse, Robert	1
Dyson, George	1
Boswell, Sir Alexander (first baronet)	1
Roscoe, William	1
Lindsey, Theophilus	1
Joyce, Jeremiah	1
Newton, John Frank	1
Blackwood, William	1
Mulready, William	1
Longdill, Pynson Wilmot	1
Wilkie, Sir David	1
Scott, Alexander	1
Rowan, Archibald Hamilton	1
Aikin, Charles Rochemont	1
Rickman, John	1
Tuffin,	1
Houghton, Reverend Pendlebury	1
Bicheno, James	1
Taylor, Richard	1
Rogers, Samuel	1
Hume, Joseph	1
Hume, Alexia	1
Hopwood,	1
Kenney, James	1
Ridgeway, James	1
Godwin, Hannah	1
Blake, William	1
Clementi, Muzio	1
Pye, Henry James	1
Greatheed, Bertie	1
Taylor, Thomas	1
Carey, Henry Thomas (eighth Viscount Falkland)	1
King, John (Jacob Rey)	1
Powell, William	1
Dalrymple, William	1
Scott, Jonathan	1
Moore, John	1
Losh, James	1
Tweddell, John	1
	1
Otton,	1
Walker, Thomas	1
Robinson, Anthony	1
Jennings, Joseph Clayton (Jennyns)	1
Carlisle, Sir Anthony	1
Fordyce, Dr George	1
Smyth, Sir Robert (fifth baronet)	1
Smith, Robert (first Baron Carrington)	1
Bannister, John	1
Gilpin, William	1
Reynolds, Samuel William	1
Smith, John	1
Banks, Thomas	1
Westall, Richard	1
Shee, Sir Martin Archer	1
Bourgeois, Peter Francis	1
Turner, Joseph Mallord William	1
Lawrence, Sir Thomas	1
West, Benjamin	1
Nollekens, Joseph	1
Flaxman, John	1
Smirke,	1
Northcote, James	1
Wilson,	1
Wollstonecraft, James	1
Norgate, Thomas Starling	1
Imlay, Fanny (Godwin)	1
Fenwick, John	1
Moore, Matthew (Mathew)	1
Paine, Thomas	1

Johnson, Joseph

1791

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