Born in the Melbourne suburb of
Hawthorn, Johns was one of eight children of Elizabeth (née Tudor) and
Peter Johns, founder of the
lift manufacturing firm Johns & Waygood. After attending
Wesley College in Melbourne, he studied law and practised as a lawyer in Melbourne. He gave up the law in 1899 when his father died, and succeeded his father as director of Johns & Waygood. Johns died in 1934 in Melbourne, aged 66. ==Cricket career==