James George Black

Name

James George Black
8 January 1877

Conflict

First World War

Date of Death / Age

08/02/1918
41

Rank, Service Number & Service Details

Major
King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
8th Bn.

Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards

Searched but not found

Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country

HENDON CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM
C. 9. 23826.
United Kingdom

Headstone Inscription

None

UK & Other Memorials

British Legion Memorial, St Andrew’s Church, Cuffley Board of Agriculture WW1 Memorial, HQ of Defra, Nobel House, Smith Square, London.

Pre War

James George Black was born in Liverpool, Lancashire on 8 January 1877 to Robert and Louisa Black (nee Potter).  On the 1881 Census the family were living at Mortimer Road, Cambridge. His father was a Presbyterian Minister. On the 1891 Census he was a schoolboy living with his brother Lewis, an undergraduate, at Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire.

He enlisted into the army as a lieutenant and served in the 1st Suffolk Regiment, 1st Essex Regiment and Army Service Corps.  He received the Kings South Africa medal and Clasps in 1903. having served in the second Boer War from 1899 to 1902.

He became an Animal Health Inspector on 1 January 1906 and on the 1911 Census he was a boarder at the White Hart Hotel, Bailgate, Lincoln with his occupation given as District Inspector for the Board of Agriculture.

Wartime Service

He must have re-enlisted at the outbreak of WW1 as on 21 July 1916 he was training at Etaples and fell from a height of around 14 feet on to his left foot and badly fractured his Os Calcis (Heel bone) and Astragalus (Ankle bone).

Additional Information

CWGC has death recorded as 8 February 1918 on gravestone and related documents. The probate register states that he died at the Grosvenor Hotel, London on 18 February 1918 and gives his home address as Beaufort House, St Thomas, Exeter. Probate was granted to his brother Lewis Potter Black MB with effects of £300 12s 7d. Register of Soldier’s effects states that he committed suicide on 18 February 1918. His brother Lewis (his executor) received £35 6s 0d pay owing.

Acknowledgments

Brenda Palmer