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John George Black Married Married Ellen Smith | ||||||||||||||
| John Paul Black [CFT #14931] Born: 1895-Feb-10 Died: 1965-Dec-24 |
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| b Kingston upon Thames d Cheadle, Cheshire Sir John Paul Black (10 February 1895 – 24 December 1965) held several senior positions in the British motor industry including chairman of Standard-Triumph. He was born in Kingston upon Thames on 10 February 1895 the fourth son of Ellen (Smith) and her husband John George Black, a clerk in the Public Record Office now Britain's national archives. He studied law at the University of London. During the First World War he served first in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve before transferring to the Royal Tank Regiment, where he gained the rank of captain. HILLMAN After the war he joined Hillman Motor Car Company as sales manager in 1918 and was appointed a director in 1919. In 1921 Black married Daisy Hillman one of the daughters of owner William Hillman, the marriage was dissolved in 1939. He was appointed joint managing director alongside his brother-in-law Spencer Wilks who had married one of Daisy's sisters. When Hillman amalgamated with Humber and Commer in 1928 Black joined their boards. STANDARD He resigned his posts in July 1929 after Hillman fell under the control of the Rootes brothers and in September 1929 took up a new position at the Standard Motor Company. He was appointed Standard's joint managing director (with founder R W Maudslay) in September 1933. Maudslay died little more than a year later. With the possibility of war again looming he enthusiastically backed the government scheme for shadow factories and managed two, at Banner Lane and Canley built by the government for the manufacture of aero engines and for aircraft. In July 1941 Black was appointed chairman of the Joint Aero Engine Committee. He performed so well he was given a knighthood in July 1943 and thereafter he insisted that his title be used by all staff and employees. At the end of the war he organised Standard's purchase of Triumph. Alick S. Dick took control of day-to-day operations in 1953 and Black was appointed chairman of Standard-Triumph. He was injured in late 1953 in an accident when being given a demonstration of the Swallow Doretti. His fellow board members believed this affected his judgment and he was forced to resign in January 1954, officially because of his health. In December 1954 Black accepted an appointment as deputy chairman of Enfield Cables Ltd. In his retirement he took up farming. He died suddenly at Cheadle Hospital, Cheadle, Cheshire on 24 December 1965 at the age of 70. Black married a second time in 1943 to Alicia Joan Pears Linton, daughter of the Bishop of Persia later rector of Handsworth, with whom he had three sons. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography incorrectly identifies both father and daughter. Shortly after Black died in 1965, Alick Dick, his successor at the helm of Standard-Triumph, recalled Black with obvious affection as an "extrovert and exciting, if somewhat controversial personality". Recalling cars introduced under Black such as the Triumph TR2, Dick candidly stated that "the emphasis was on the chassis [and on the car's performance] rather than the body. [Also] typical [of Black] was the fact that all his cars had very little leg room and lots of head room because he was a six footer with short legs". Above reproduced from Wikipedia with thanks. Brought up in the late Victorian period, allowing for his engagements in the First World War, would have shaped the life of John Paul Black in a unique way. He had evidently learned the quality of self-discipline at an early age, while growing up with his five brothers and two sisters at Kingston-Upon-Thames in Surrey. Before 1914 he had acquired much experience through his education in Law, but his first job on leaving school was with ABC Ltd. (All British Company) who were building their aero engines at Brooklands in 1911. At sixteen years of age, the young John Black would have had no concept of his future involvement with aircraft production during the Second World War. Yet that early life significantly marked the pattern of his later career in the Motor Industry. The Standard Motor Company surely needed direction and leadership during those uncertain years of the 1930’s so the timing was perfect for an enthusiastic and dynamic character like Black to arrive on the scene. ? The ‘Flying Standards’ were to put the Company back on the map, after earlier financial challenges, paving the way for mass production of both vehicles and aircraft in future years. With the inception of war Captain Black directed resources towards manufacturing mostly Bristol Mercury engines and Mosquito aircraft, under the government backed Shadow Factory Scheme in Coventry. These factories also proved to be extremely useful after the war for further production of the Standard Vanguard and the TE-20 Ferguson tractor. So it was with vision and conviction that the newly knighted Sir John Black approached the government with the plan to secure these two extremely large factories for the purpose of producing vehicles, which would assist Britain’s export policy and revolutionise farming. When you consider that over a quarter of a million Vanguards and half a million Fergusons were manufactured and delivered through Black’s administration, it gives an indication of the immense amount of work undertaken in those post-war years at Coventry. It was also extremely economical to utilise the same basic 4 cylinder 2,088cc engine for both vehicles. After the acquisition of the Triumph Company in 1945, John Black went on to create a completely new image for his production lines. The Roadster, Renown and Mayflower all came under this new Triumph Marque, leading to his crowning glory- the TR2 in 1953. Perhaps that was the epitome of Sir John Black’s involvement, and contribution to the British Motor Industry. Ironically the year 1953 saw both the TR2 breaking speed records in Belgium in May, but also the ill-fated Banner Lane crash in November with Black as passenger in the new prototype Swallow Doretti. Coincidentally the two cars shared the same engine and driver, Ken Richardson, who had himself helped develop the TR2. ? Whether that episode precipitated Black’s ‘fall from grace’ is open to opinion, but he sustained serious enough injuries to require a period of convalescence down in the South of France, being rather typical of his style. In reality, his formative years and wartime trauma at Ypres in 1917 probably affected his temperament for the rest of his life. Like so many veterans of war, he carried the scars he experienced, while in the First Tank Regiment, silently. Despite his extensive contribution to Standard Triumph, he was made to sign a letter of resignation in 1954, largely due to independent actions relating to future contracts with the Ferguson Company, together with his controversial practice of sacking Managers and Directors in the Company. However, because his involvement in so many aspects of car production, over his twenty years of service, was undoubtedly appreciated, the Standard Motor Company allowed him the dignity of a retirement package and pension scheme, which at least offered him security in his later years alone, when retired in Wales. The above written by his son, Nick Black for the Standard Motor Club website in February 2021. Sir John's parents were Ellen Smith and John George Black who was a clerk in the Public Record Office (now the National Archives). During WWI he served in the RNVR and later transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment where he rose to the rank of Captain. |
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