George Bennett Black

Student

George Bennett Black was born on 4th January 1893 at 16 Catherine Street, Glasgow and was the son of John and Mary Black. John Black was a tobacco manufacturer in Glasgow, and George was educated at Woodside Higher Grade Public School, where he successfully completed the Junior Studentâ€™s Certificate course on 31st July 1912. This included approximately 300 hours of practical training in the art of teaching, and was one of the main qualifications for entry to teacher training college.

George went on to attend the University of Glasgow from 1913 to 1916, last matriculating for the 1915-1916 session to study Natural Philosophy. At that time he lived at 36 Bentinck Street, Glasgow. In session 1914-1915, he enrolled concurrently at the Glasgow Provincial Training College (forerunner of Jordanhill College of Education, now the University of Strathclyde) for a three-year course to qualify as a primary school teacher. However, the College student register indicates that he abandoned both his professional training and his University studies to enlist for war service on 23rd March 1916.

George was commissioned into the 11th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was posted missing, presumed killed in action, on 7th October 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, among the 35,000 United Kingdom, South African and New Zealand troops who died on the Arras sector of the Western Front between the Spring of 1916 and 7th August 1918, when the Allied Advance to victory began. He is also remembered on the Roll of Honour of the Glasgow Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers, and on the Glasgow Provincial Training College War Memorial, located in the David Stow Building on the former Jordanhill Campus.