Second Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps,
25 Squadron
Born: December 3rd 1895
Died: December 3rd 1916
Age at Death: 21
Killed in action, whilst returning from a bombing raid over Pont-a-Vendin, France, December 3rd 1916.
Brighton College Register: Son of Major Frank Johnson of Melrose Hall, Wilbury Road, Hove.
Later Lieutenant Colonel Frank Johnson.
Grave Reference: XVI D. 1.
Cemetery: CABARET-ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY, SOUCHEZ, Pas de Calais, France
A donation to the memorial statue has been made in honour of this soldier by James Adutt (Le. 1982-87).
Obituary Brightonian XV April, 1917
D.S. Johnson entered Hampden House in 1910, and remained at the College until July, 1914. He had a successful athletic record, being the First XI. Football, 1913-14 and in the First XI. Cricket in 1913 and 1914. He was Secretary of Cricket in the latter year. He was made a School Prefect in 1913, and was Secretary of the Sports in 1914. He was also Corporal in the O.T.C. No details are available as to his death, except that he was killed while flying at a great height over the German lines.
2nd Lieutenant Derrick Sivewright Johnson (Hampden 1910–1914)
Derrick Johnson was born in the Cape Colony (now part of South Africa) on 3 December 1895. He was the youngest son and third child of Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Frank Johnson and his wife Jane. His father had a distinguished military career, which he was to resume on the outbreak of war in 1914, but he retired from the army and settled in Hove while Johnson was a child. While at the College Johnson played for the football and cricket 1st XIs and acted as Secretary for Sport, as well as being a school prefect and a Corporal in the OTC.
On the outbreak of war he undertook officer training and received a commission in the Cyclist Corps, a territorial formation, before transferring to the RFC in November 1916. Within the RFC Johnson was initially attached to the 23rd and 28th Squadrons before being briefly hospitalised following an accident in September 1916. Thereafter he was attached to the 25th Squadron, a bomber unit. He was killed in action on 3 December 1916 while returning with his squadron from a raid on German positions at Pont-à-Vendin, France. The squadron was in tight formation but Johnson’s plane was shot down as a result of a near vertical dive by a German aircraft and was seen to have crashed in flames behind enemy lines.
Johnson’s grave is in the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, France.
Source: LEST WE FORGET PROJECT, Brighton College 2014/15
Also remembered on:
South African War Graves - as JOHNSON, DEREK SIVEWRIGHT
To mark Remembrance in 2023, a Brighton College family visited Cabaret Rouge Cemetery, and placed flowers on Derrick’s grave.