Herbert Johnston, known to his family as Ronnie, was 23 years old when he drowned in the Thames on 21st of June 1943, after convalescing in hospital following a head injury sustained while serving with the 8th Battalion of the Buffs (the East Kent Regiment). From the inquest evidence, which I have obtained, it is not clear why he drowned, but he was known to have suffered epileptic fits as a result of his head injury.
Ronnie was born in Camberwell, London, on April 15th 1920. He was living with his parents at 48 Clayton Road, Peckham, London, when he joined the 8th Battalion of the Buffs (the Royal East Kent Regiment) on July 17th, 1940.
On July 1st 1942 he was thrown from a Bren-gun carrier (circumstances unknown) and sustained head injuries. He was transferred to St Hugh’s Military Hospital for head injuries in Oxford on July 11th 1942.
According to testimony given at his inquest, Ronnie remained there until August 23rd, 1942. On that day “he sustained an ulnar nerve lesion” and was transferred immediately to the Wingfield Hospital in Headington, Oxfordshire. He remained there until August 31st 1942, when he was transferred to the military hospital at Ripon Hall in Boars Hill, Oxford. He remained there until May 21st 1943, when he was discharged from the Army as being unfit for further military duties.
Upon his discharge he obtained work as a "farm student” at Elmwood Farm in Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, and started work there on June 7th 1943.
One evening, two weeks later, he went to swim in the Thames at a place called Old Man’s Bridge in the parish of Clanfield and, a little after 7pm, drowned in deep water moments after being seen swimming normally. The statement given to the inquest by one witness read: “I saw one of the fellows that came with upon his back, laughing. I thought he was fooling, He went under and never came up again. I saw bubbles coming up from where he went down.”
I have not yet been able to establish where Ronnie is buried.
Although he wasn't killed in action, this young man's death was a direct result of his military service, which was curtailed by his head injury. I know from my mother, his sister, that under normal circumstances he was a strong swimmer and he may well have drowned as the result of suffering a fit triggered by his head injury. Furthermore, although nothing can be proved at this distance of time, I suspect that, once he realised he was of no further use to the military, Ronnie may have tried to take his own life while he was at St Hugh's Hospital.
The medical records no longer exist, but the “ulnar nerve lesion” he suffered sounds very much like the type of deep nerve injury sustained by someone who attempts to commit suicide by cutting their wrist. Indeed, there would seem to be few other circumstances in which such an injury could be sustained while under hospital care.
His father, who served with distinction in the Royal Field Artillery in the First World War, during which he was wounded several times, gave a curious piece of evidence at his son's inquest that seemed to hint at an otherwise unrecorded suspicion that Ronnie's drowning might not have been accidental. “I last saw him alive on 7th of June 1943,” he stated. “He seemed all right then, and perfectly happy."
