Private Peter Black

[Cramond Brig]

Private Peter Black, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), already had a suspended sentence of death for desertion when he went missing a second time just before going into action. His absence lasted for a month and, after Court Martial, he was shot on 18 September 1916 near the border between France and Belgium.

This one of the 306 men who were “shot at dawn” in WW1 and eventually pardoned in 2006. He is remembered in a special memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum. The circumstances of his Court Martial are clear and reasonably well recorded, but it is proving a problem to find where he was born, who his parents were etc. His Service Record is missing, so if anyone has direct knowledge of this man, please let me know.

The original thread is at http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,611191.0.html

Alistair

[ev]

In Friday's(24th August) Dundee Courier there is an article about a Peter Black and controversy about the Newport , Fife war memorial in the 1920's(Craigie Column)
It would seem that this is the Peter Black that was executed
This was a reply and unfortunately I didn't see the original article

ev

http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/local-headlines/gordon-sbook-tells-the-stories-behind-the-names-on-newport-and-wormit-war-memorial-1-151513

[MonicaL]

That looks really promising Ev  A couple of possibilities in the 1901 census for Peter Blacks in the Fife area.

From what you say Ev, another article appeared last Friday (24/8) in the Dundee Courier? Can't easily see anything here www.thecourier.co.uk which is a pity.

A good lead to follow up, Alastair 

Monica

[Cramond Brig]

Sounds very promising. Like you., Monica, I can't get at anything from "The Courier".

Alistair

[MonicaL]

From here: PRIVATE PETER BLACK, 20, 1/4 Black Watch, deserted going into action. Shot 18.9.1916.
www.thefreelibrary.com/The+men+set+to+be+pardoned+after+80+years+of+being+branded+cowards...-a060362834

Age c.20 (if accurate) in 1916 could potentially be up to three Peters (from 1901):

Peter Black b. circa 1895, son of George and Maggie. Living 166 South St., St Andrews, Fife, where this Peter was born. Father George a gardener by trade.

Peter Black b. circa 1894 in Leith and living at the Adamson Institute in Cupar, Fife.

Last one one in Fifeshire from 1901, a Peter son of Catherine born circa 1894 in Dunfermline, living at 71 Brucefield St.

Hopefully, with Ev's lead, you can make some headway  You could contact the Courier tomorrow and ask for a copy/background on Friday's article?

Monica

[MonicaL]

From Ev's lead, another source:

Daily Mail, October 15, 2011

Town that fought for honour of a 'coward'

 AT the height of the First World War, Private Peter Black was shot for fleeing in the face of the enemy.

The Black Watch soldier was 21 when he died an ignominious death in France at dawn on September 18, 1916.

His reputation should have been for ever sullied - and when the good folk of his home town, Newport-on-Tay in Fife, decided to erect a cenotaph to honour its 84 sons who fell in the war, it was decreed Black's name should be excluded.

That sparked another conflict. Angry townsfolk threatened to destroy the memorial if his name was left off. Two former comrades stole enough gelignite to 'have the whole lot …
www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-269790430.html

[Cramond Brig]

I'm on it, Monica . I have also contacted the Tay Valley Historical Society.

I've come across the Adamson Institute before. Started out as a hospital, I believe, and was then purchased by Leith Holiday Homes to send poor children from Leith on Holiday, which explains why one of the Peters got there from Leith.

Alistair

[ev]

"I was interested to read the item in your column about the 1920's controversy surrounding our war memorial in Newport
The story of Peter Black has always been of great interest to people here. Nowadays young soldiers suffering from shell shock or similar afflictions , as Peter Black clearly was , would receive help , care and counselling.
In the harsh days of the First World War , however more than 300 British soldiers were "shot at dawn" for cowardice and/or desertion to set an example to others
At Poperinghe , near Ieper in Belgium , and very close to Les Trois Arbres cemetery where Peter is buried , one can visit a prison cell where some of these soldiers were held before execution.
I have visited Peter Black's grave several times. The first time was in 1999 with pupils from Bell Baxter High School , Cupar , on our annual WW1 battlefield tour
I found this very poignnant on two counts - firstly because Peter had not been much older than these teenagers and , secondly , because I thought that very probably we were the first visitors to his grave in 83 years
We always left a small wooden poppy cross when we visited , but we never saw any evidence of other visitors"

M. S. of Newport-on-Tay(Dundee Courier 24th August 2012)

ev

[MonicaL]

A 1911 entry for a Peter Black, can we figure him out? Missing the earlier page with father's name...booo!

Starts:

Mary Black, 46, wife, b Kemback
Peter Black 16 b. St Andrews
Andrew Black 12 b. St Andrews
James Black 7 b. Flisk (?spl)

A second wife ( ) - one child/living - married 9 yrs.

I am connecting this back to the one mentioned earlier from St Andrews - all the children in this household born in St Andrews, fifeshire:

George Black 36, Gardener Jobbing, b. Cupar Fifeshire
Maggie Black 37 b. Cameron, fifeshire
James Black 12
Agnes Black 10
George Black 8
Peter Black 6 b.
Andrew Black 2
Address: 166 South St, St Andrews

Monica