General Black, who lived on Fountain Hill in Budleigh Salterton after his retirement, died in December 1930 in London at his brother-in-law’s house, 82 Finchley Road. He had travelled to London in October to attend the Armistice Day service at the Cenotaph but was taken ill with pneumonia. He was thought to be improving but then had a relapse.

Walter Black had been born in London in1867 the son of Dr Robert John Black and Rosa Sinclair Blow. He was at school at the Epsom Downs Royal Medical Benevolent College in 1881 (now called Epsom College) and entered Sandhurst in 1887 where he was an excellent cricketer and rugby player. His first regular army commission was to the Sherwood Foresters in Ireland in 1888. He transferred to the Indian Army in 1890 and joined the 12th Bengal Infantry and was actively involved over much of the next decade on the North West Frontier. He went to Russia during 1892-3 to study the language, and later acted as the interpreter for his Regiment when required.

In 1895 he was made Adjutant of his Regiment and served in the Chitral Relief Force Expedition and received the medal and clasp for the campaign. Other retirees to Budleigh who participated in that campaign were Major William Addington and Colonel Maurice Barton (see their OVApedia entries). Later in 1897 Black was in the Tirah Expeditionary force and participated in operations on the ridge of hills at Samana and in the Kurram Valley between August and September, and he received the Punjab Frontier Medal and 3 clasps for the actions.

He returned to London in 1899 to take up a post as Staff Captain and Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master General in the Intelligence Division at the War Office where no doubt his knowledge of Russian was useful. On his return Black married Hope Gordon Anderson in Hampstead in 1909; she was the daughter of a merchant who traded with India. They had one son Walter Gordon Black born in Hampstead in 1901. The family left England in 1904 to return to India.

He was promoted to Major in 1906 and in 1907 passed out fifth from the Indian Staff College. In 1909 he was appointed to command his Regiment (12th Pioneers - pre 1903 called the 12th Bengal Infantry), and in November of that year he was made Staff Captain in the Division of the Chief of Staff and a month later also made Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master General (both post he had held at the War Office in London). From February 1911 to 1914 he was Military Secretary and Interpreter to the Commander in Chief, General Sir O’Moore Greagh.

At the outbreak of WW1 he became General Staff Officer, 1st Grade Intelligence at Indian Army Headquarters, and in 1917 was made Director of Staff Duties with the rank of Brigadier-General. Later he was made Port Commander in Madras. Towards the end of the war, Indian leaders asked that Indians should be allowed to receive the King’s Commission which until then had not been allowed. To this end a training school for selected candidates was set up in Indore at Daly College (and other candidates were sent also to Sandhurst for training). The first Commandant of the Daly College Cadet Wing was Brigadier General Black. The experience derived from that post was useful in 1921/2 when he was a member of the Shea Committee set up to recommend Indianisation of the Army.

In 1919 Black was made Commander of the Indian Empire (CIE) “For distinguished service in connection with the war”, and from 1920 to 1922 he served as Military Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Charles Munro. He received the Star of India in 1922 and retired with the rank of Major General in March the same year. In April 1922 the King approved his appointment to the honorary post of Colonel of the 12th Pioneers.

Walter Gordon Black their son was sent back to go to school at Winchester College. He went up to Oxford University, graduating B.A. in 1923 and receiving his M.A. in 1929.

General Black and his wife came to live in Budleigh Salterton on Fountain Hill and soon became involved with local activities. He joined the golf club, and in 1924 volunteered to fill a gap on the Budleigh Salterton District Nursing Association Committee. He was involved with the Boy Scouts, and became President of the local branch of the British Legion in 1924; he was also Vice-President of the Salterton Bowling Club. He was a member of the Parochial Church Council Finance Committee and also Treasurer of the fund set up to build the new Church Institute and he saw the work started before his death in London in 1930. Their son spent time with his parents in Budleigh and took part in local cricket matches and won the Rolle Cup at the Golf Club in the autumn of 1922 and participated in several tournaments.

Major General Black was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and Captain Bone, who succeeded him as President of the British Legion, attended to represent the Branch. A memorial service was held at the same time at St. Peter’s Church in Budleigh attended by a very large number of his friends and colleagues.

His wife continued to live in Fountains Hill until at least 1939 (Kelly’s Directory) but by the time of her death in July 1955 she was living at Mountways, 1 Leas Road. Their son appears to have emigrated to Australia because he died in Claremont, Perth, Western Australia in October 1962. After he graduated he played briefly for an Indian cricket club during the 1924/5 season. He married Kathleen Mary Alcock in Kensington in 1933 and their only daughter Rosemary was born in February 1936 in Australia.

Written and Researched by Roger Lendon, © April 2015

Sources for information in this article were:

Several articles in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette particularly Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 December 1930
Ancestry.com
Army Lists
Nationalisation of the Indian Army 1885-1947 by Gautam Sharma
Indian Army Quarterly Lists
London Gazette
Wikipedia
http://www.thepeerage.com

BS-B-00071 Biography