Our founder, EL Johnson was approaching 38, and a Corn and Oilcake Merchant of No.1 New Corn Exchange, London EC, when he was appointed by the Salvage Association to act as a Grain Expert for the first time. The barque ‘EUCLID’ with a cargo of oats loaded at Riga bound for Le Havre had gone ashore at Fahludd, Gottland on the 24^th May, 1877, resulting in serious damage to both hull and cargo. When Mr. Johnson boarded the ship on the 11^th July, he found much of the 450 tons of Oats remaining on board to be "Heated and damaged consequent upon contact with seawater after stranding". A dispute arose with the consignee and the matter was referred to a tribunal, who directed that the cargo be sold "with all faults" "for the account of whom concerned" - over 130 years later such a scenario has changed little.

Within a few years demand for his expertise in this field increased and expanded to include other commodities. Thus in about 1885 the full-time professional Cargo Surveyor was born. EL Johnson’s career as a Grain Expert and Cargo Surveyor subsequently spanned some 25 years and some of his earliest surveys included the barquentine ‘SWIFTSURE’ carrying flour, stranded at Avonmouth on the 3^rd March, 1885, and the barque ‘C.R. BISHOP’ with wheat on fire at Liverpool on the 23^rd July, 1889.

In the early 1880’s the first shipments of frozen meat were arriving from Australia and New Zealand, and the Institute of London Underwriters and Shipowners looked for individuals who ‘knew something about meat’. EL Johnson had been a cowkeeper and stockholder and soon became the pioneer of surveying frozen meat on defined lines. His force of character and ability, combined with tact, made him a formidable figure in frozen meat circles.

Captain Thomas Robertson Mowat (1851 – 1917) had extensive sea-going experience of the Australian run and the carriage of frozen meat, and after coming ashore in October, 1888 embarked on his second career in 1893 as a Surveyor, often representing the Australian & New Zealand Underwriters Association. In the 1890’s therefore EL Johnson and Capt. Mowat would have met, and developed a mutual affinity and trust.

Such were the demands on EL Johnson’s time during the 1880’s that he decided to seek assistance for his business from within his own family. His brother, Frederick William Johnson (1845 - 1910) had assisted their father; also named Edward Lionel Johnson, as a cowkeeper and later became a Meat Salesman and a Meat Surveyor.

EL Johnson’s son, also called Edward Lionel Johnson (1868 – 1944) and the third generation to bear the name, had gained experience of the grain and cereal trade and joined his father as an assistant about 1889.