Henry Johnson (shipbuilder)

He was one of the leading commercial shipbuilders on the River Thames during the period of enormous mercantile expansion and the Dutch wars after the Restoration.. Johnson was baptized on.

His father was descended from a merchant family and his great-grandfather Francis Johnson settled at Aldeburgh and was MP for the borough in 1597.

Between 1653 and 1656 he bought land outside the yard and he built the Globe Tavern and the coopers' buildings and a slaughter house.

The size of the merchant navy grew considerably, and the Dutch Wars increased the demand for naval shipping.

was a Younger Brother of Trinity House in August 1660 and became Commissioner for sewers for Havering and Dagenham levels in September 1660.

From 1662, Charles II encouraged merchant shipbuilding by offering a bounty in remission of customs to their builders.

As business expanded there was a shortage of skilled labour and Johnson had to seek assurances that his carpenters and other work were not set upon by the press gangs.

[1] Johnson died at Bath and was buried on 19 November 1683 in the East India Company chapel at Poplar, for which he had contributed towards the building costs.