Johns was born in
Pembroke,
Wales, the son of builder Thomas Johns and his wife Elizabeth, née Tudor. He was for two years assistant foreman for
Fox, Henderson & Co., working at the construction of
The Crystal Palace. He emigrated as a
steerage passenger to Australia on the
clipper Champion of the Seas, where he fabricated straightforward iron components such as posts for houses and bridges, as well as undertaking a range of construction jobs. Around 1870 he hired an engineer, Thomas Pearce, who had trade experience with
Boulton and Watt of
Birmingham, England. With Pearce as an assistant, they greatly expanded their capabilities and specialised in fabricating hydraulic lifts, which were increasingly being installed in multi-storey buildings. The workshop grew and in 1888 he floated Johns Hydraulic & General Engineering Co. as a public company. In 1892 they formed a consortium as Johns & Waygood to supply and install passenger and goods lifts to the new
Metropolitan Gas Company building. In 1893 the company became Johns & Waygood Limited after taking over the Australian arm of the British
Richard Waygood & Co. Johns, Pearce and Charles Lawson were board members and major shareholders, as were
Thomas Bent and
George Swinburne who served as chairmen of the company from 1888 to 1909 and 1909 to 1913, respectively. In addition to the factory at Flinders Lane, the company established headquarters at City Road in
South Melbourne, a galvanising plant in
Sandringham, manufacturing plants in
Adelaide,
Hobart and
Sydney. Johns died at home after a long illness, and was buried at
Boroondara Cemetery,
Kew. His son, the cricketer
Alfred Johns, was on tour in England when news arrived that his father was dangerously ill and immediately left for home on the
SS Oroya, arriving in Adelaide on 25 September – his father had died the previous night. Peter Johns was by all accounts a generous and highly regarded employer. Members of the family have been actively involved throughout its history. Peter's sons
Alfred E. Johns, Frederic W. Johns, and F. Peter Johns served as directors and chairmen of the company. In 1966 Johns & Waygood merged with the South Australian heavy engineering firm of
Perry Engineering, forming Johns Perry Ltd. In the following decade they closed down their facilities at
Mile End,
Gawler and
Whyalla. The merged company was then acquired by
Boral in 1986. After further takeovers the company became known as Advanced Building Technologies Group and was still operating under that name in 2006. ==Family==