Private William Black

Private William John Black, 9th ( Service ) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. He was killed in action in France on 30th November 1917, aged 37, during the Battle of Cambrai. He was the son of Margaret and the late John Black of ” Margaretville “, Tweedmouth and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial, Louveral, France. He had worked as a Chemist in London and had enlisted in the 2nd Sportsman’s Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers before proceeding to France in 1915. He had been a keen member of the Berwick Amateur Rowing Club. This Battle was the first time tanks were used en masse and on good ground to break through the German lines. The first photograph shows the tanks just before the Battle and the second shows one of the tanks in close up.