Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 02CEA77BE6B4491CAFB94210BB27C9F74D3A
• Census: 2 Apr 1871, Albert Place, St Mary Northgate, Canterbury, , Kent, England
• Probate: 25 Mar 1930, London, , Greater London, England

Notes:

Comments (Johnson, George Maw b. Jul-Sep 1864 Sutton, , Surrey, England d. Yes, date unknown): Dear Lady, dear Sir,
George Maw Johnson came in 1890 to Belgium, where in 1893 he started with the 'Brewers Journal' (Le Journal des Brasseurs), became director of the Belgian Brewers Society and died in 1928 in Brussels.
Kind regards.
Geert

Geert Van Lierde
geert.van.lierde @ telenet.be


Birth:
Name: Mother's Maiden Surname:
JOHNSON, GEORGE MAW ROBERTS
GRO Reference: 1864 S Quarter in EPSOM Volume 02A Page 3

First name(s) George Maw
Last name Johnson
Birth quarter 3
Birth year 1864
Mother's maiden name Roberts
District Epsom
County Surrey
Country England
Volume 2A
Page 3
Record set England & Wales Births 1837-2006
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Subcategory Civil Births
Collections from Great Britain, England

Christened:
First name(s) George Maw
Last name Johnson
Birth year -
Baptism year 1864
Baptism date 27 Jul 1864
Baptism place Sutton St Nicholas
Relationship Son
Father's first name(s) George
Mother's first name(s) Mary Ann
Parent's occupation Assayer
Residence Warden Lodge, Benhilton
County Surrey
Country England
Record set Surrey Baptisms
Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)
Subcategory Parish Baptisms
Collections from England, United Kingdom
© West Surrey Family History Society

Biography:
Source: https://www.beercity.brussels/home/50-objects-le-petit-journal-du-brasseur

Once upon time, a young brewer's son from Canterbury in England became the godfather of modern Belgian beer. It all started on Sunday, 8 January 1893, with the appearance of edition one of Le Petit Journal du Brasseur. Only 10 pages long, its cover featured an advert for patented corn and rice malts, below which someone called George M. Johnson was identified as being available to visit interested breweries for a product demonstration. George M. (for Maw) Johnson also happened to be the paper's Founder-Editor, having arrived in Brussels three years previously with a missionary zeal to bring Belgian brewing into the modern, industrial age.

George's family were originally jewellers, until his father (also George) bought the Northgate Brewery in Canterbury in 1866. George Maw - eldest of 17 children - worked with his father for three years before turning up at Brussels' Brasserie Leopold in 1890. It was auspicious timing; Belgian brewers considered England one of the world's most advancing brewing nations, far ahead of their own. As head of Leopold's laboratory, Johnson failed at his first attempt at a brewer's journal. The Petit Journal du Brasseur was his second, a monthly publication released on Sundays that cost six francs annually. In his first editorial, he welcomed readers with the immodest expectation they would "greet with joy the new era of enlightenment and brewing progress which, without a doubt, will be born thanks to the….Petit Journal".

The Petit Journal was, Johnson said, "devoted to technical and industrial issues of interest to the brewery", and edition one established the paper's template. Articles on technical matters - edition one covered the aeration of hot and cold malts, chill haze affecting top fermented beers stored in cold cellars, and the issue of applying pitch and varnish internally or externally on wooden barrels - were joined by letters from brewers with technical questions and adverts for yeast suppliers, maltings, and surplus brewery stock.

There were also listings of the latest raw materials prices, Moldavian malt costing 21-23 francs/kilo in January 1893. Later editions would cover water's essential role in brewing, the potential impact of Irish Home Rule on British brewing (Johnson was anti-Home Rule), and the impact of changeable weather on Bavarian hop yields.

Johnson had found a financially successful formula, and with Belgium's breweries having few formally educated brewing engineers in the 1890s they came to rely on the Petit Journal for in-house technical support. In the next decade the Petit Journal shifted to a weekly schedule, absorbing a Belgian rival and their French counterpart.

Then, in 1914, publication stopped. Escaping war, George made it to England. Henri Codville, George's son-in-law and right-hand man ended up working in a munitions factory. Following armistice the pair returned to Brussels and a brewing industry transformed. In the immediate aftermath of WWI, brewers were less focused on expansion than on reconstruction, profitability, and efficiency. And they wanted to brew English beers. Something George Maw, returned to the Petit Journal's editorial chair, knew a thing or two about.

Census:
First name(s) Last name Relationship Marital status Sex Age Birth year Birth place Occupation
George Johnson Head - Male 33 1838 Middlesex, England -
Mary A Johnson Wife - Female 25 1846 Middlesex, England -
George M Johnson Son - Male 6 1865 Surrey, England -
Charles G Johnson Son - Male 5 1866 Surrey, England -
Helen Johnson Daughter - Female 4 1867 Kent, England -
Grove Johnson Son - Male 2 1869 Kent, England -
John F Johnson Son - Male 0 1871 Kent, England -
Harriet Buss Servant - Female 18 1853 Kent, England -
Caroline Cox Servant - Female 15 1856 Kent, England -

Probate:
Name George Maw Johnson
Death Date 16 Jul 1928
Death Place Belgium
Probate Date 25 Mar 1930
Probate Registry London, England

Died:
Name George Maw Johnson
Death Date 16 Jul 1928
Death Place Belgium
Probate Date 25 Mar 1930
Probate Registry London, England

Family/Spouse: Clara Beatrice. Clara was born est 1865; died after 25 Mar 1930. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]