Herbert Johnson

Bank: Westminster Bank

Place of work: London Ebury Street branch

Died: 11 May 1944

Herbert Oxley Johnson, known to his bank colleagues as Johnnie, was born on 5 December 1906, son of Herbert Frank Johnson, a banker, and his wife Winifred Edith. On his 17th birthday in 1923 he joined the staff of his father's employer, Westminster Bank. He worked initially at Maidstone branch and later transferred to Mark Lane branch and, in 1934, to Ebury Street branch, both in London. He was a keen member of the bank's staff sports club, especially interested in rugby, which he also played for Kent, and tennis. 

In the early part of the Second World War, including throughout the London Blitz, Johnson served as a volunteer in the Auxiliary Fire Service. Then, in November 1941, he left the bank to go on full time war service. Despite being above the usual age for flying, he volunteered for air crew duties and was assigned to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He trained as an air gunner.

Flying Officer Johnson died on 11 May 1944, one of three crewmen killed when their Lancaster bomber crashed in France on the way back from a bombing raid. He was 37 years old and left a widow, Phyllis, whom he had met at work and married in 1934, and two children. He was later awarded the DFC in recognition of his 'skill, courage and devotion to duty of the highest order.'

Herbert Johnson is commemorated on a bank war memorial at NatWest London Victoria branch.