 His birth name was Thomas Jackling, but he used the name Tom Johnson throughout his fight career.Johnson moved to London at a young age and spent the next twenty years or so working as a corn porter, loading and unloading sacks of corn from a wharf near to Old Swan Stairs, (Upper) Thames Street.His selflessness and strength were exemplified during this period by the assistance that he gave to a fellow worker who had become ill. Johnson would carry two sacks of corn on each journey between the wharf and the grain warehouse, rather than the usual single sack, up an incline so steep that it was known as Labour-in-vain-hill.