G.D. Johnston MA, BCL, FSA, FRGS, one of the Masters of the Bench of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, was a barrister, topologist and
historian. He was a member of the Sussex Archaeological Society, edited one of its journals, Sussex Notes and Queries and wrote numerous articles for that and other publications. His chambers were in Lincoln’s Inn and in his professional life, one of his briefs was to bring a petition to appoint a Receiver and manager of the estate of the writer Edgar Wallace in 1932 whose financial affairs after his death were found to be in disarray.
He had a London address, but his main residence was Stones near Bedham. In or about 1956, he transcribed the contents of the Parish Chest, then stored in the vicarage which, with a commentary and accompanying notes, he compiled into an unpublished work titled Some Notes on the History of the Parish of Wisborough Green, Sussex and Barbara Wyatt arranged (and might have paid) for the manuscript to be typed. This typescript runs to 223 pages and comprises, it has been estimated, 49,900 words. The fee proposed was 2/9d per 1,000 words.
George Johnston wrote an introduction that detailed some of the history of the documents. He says that the papers were kept in the Parish Chest “perhaps just anyhow” but in 1793 they were apparently sorted out judging from records of payments made to the parish overseers one of whom, John Older, was also the Parish Clerk and the landlord of the Three Crowns. At some point the Parish Chest was moved to the vicarage before being returned to the church in 1930 by the then vicar, Rev. G.H. Newton. The papers themselves were stored in a strong box in the vicarage. They date chiefly between 1740 and 1830 and relate partly to church affairs but more largely to the subjects of Poor Relief and general civil matters.
The original documents are now in the care of the West Sussex Record Office but Johnston’s Notes are an invaluable and locally held and accessible work of reference, that has been drawn on by subsequent chroniclers of Wisborough Geen.
G.D. Johnston died in 1971 and is buried in St. Peter’s churchyard.
This is an edited version of an article that appeared in the May 2023 edition of the Wisborough Green Historian, the monthly magazine of the Wisborough Green Village History Society
Andrew Strudwick