Henry Cecil Johnson

Sir Henry Cecil Johnson (11 September 1906 – 13 March 1988), was Chairman of British Rail. Johnson astutely began the sale and development of surplus railway land and established the British Rail Property Board in 1970. The finances of British Railways improved under Johnson's chairmanship and when he left in 1971, British Rail had a surplus of £9.7 million. Sir Peter Parker, a later Chairman, ‘admired his honesty and courage', describing him as ‘straight as a gun barrel’. Early life Henry Cecil Johnson was born in Lavendon, Buckinghamshire on 11 September 1906, the son of William Longland and Alice Mary Johnson of Lavendon, Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Bedford Modern School. Career Johnson joined the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) as a traffic apprentice in 1923. After various posts in the Operating Department of LNER, Johnson was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Southern Area, LNER, in 1942. In 1955 he became Chief Operating Superintendent of the Eastern Region and later General Manager in 1958. In 1962, Johnson became General Manager of the London Midland Region, and was also its Chairman between 1963 and 1967. He ‘took charge of the electrification of the Euston to Manchester and Liverpool line, the first main-line electrification, completed in 1966’. Johnson became Vice-Chairman of the British Railways Board in 1967 and was appointed its Chairman in 1968, a position he held until 1971.