Theophilus Johnson (23 August 1836 – 1919) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

amateur naturalist, artist and publisher. Theophilus or Theo Johnson was born on 23 August 1836 at

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, the third son of George Johnson, a well-to-do wax refiner from the

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and his wife, Ann, daughter of John Josse of

Spitalfields Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

. He was the grand-uncle of Laurence Bertrand Johnson, the good friend of

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

. Theo was apprenticed as a

stationer Stationery refers to writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer pr ...

and

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

, eventually starting his own

letterpress printing Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable t ...

business. He married Mary Helena Douglas in 1866 and they had three children - Helena Stuart Johnson, Paterson Herbert Johnson and Constance Mabel Johnson. (Sources: copy marriage and birth certificates from GRO) He probably lived most of his life near

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

as he seems to have spent most of his time visiting the

Gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

and producing beautiful watercolour paintings of the exhibits. These he

published Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

as original works of art, along with printed or hand-written text, in a large number of

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

s. His special interest was

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

, but he also published works on

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s and

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, including

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

ones. Perhaps of most interest was his ''Personal Recollections of the '' ondon' Zoo during a Period of Fifty Years'' (1908). This was the "first accurate history of the Zoo" and included never before published information concerning the "true story of

Jumbo Jumbo (December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and then tr ...

", the "fiasco of the white elephant" and the "fiction of the intellectually-gifted chimpanzee, Sally". In later life, he lived at

Dartford Heath Dartford Heath Common is an area of open heathland situated to the south-west of Dartford, Kent, England, that covers around of open space. Dartford Heath is classified as lowland heath and is one of only two substantial heathland blocks remaini ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

where he continued to publish until his death in 1919. Twenty-nine of his books are owned by the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

, four by the Zoological Society and a few others by important institutions. However, most are in private hands.

References

Radclyffe, Howard (1995) 'Theophilus Johnson: amateur naturalist, artist and publisher extraordinaire' in Archives of Natural History. Volume 22, Page 183-190
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Theophilus 1836 births 1919 deaths Artists from the London Borough of Haringey Businesspeople from the London Borough of Haringey People from Tottenham People from Camden Town People from Dartford English entomologists English zoologists Stationers (people) English book publishers (people) English printers English watercolourists 20th-century English painters English male painters British bird artists English animal artists 19th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English male artists