PRIVATE 77570 HUGH McALISTER ALLAN-BLACK 9th BATTALION ROYAL FUSILIERS (LONDON REGIMENT) KILLED IN ACTION 8th AUGUST 1918 AGED 19


PRIVATE 77570 HUGH McALISTER ALLAN-BLACK 9th BATTALION ROYAL FUSILIERS (LONDON REGIMENT) KILLED IN ACTION 8th AUGUST 1918 AGED 19



The youngest son of John Allan-Black and his wife Claire, Hugh was born in the hamlet of Stone Gappe near Lothersdale in the Craven District on the 25th May 1899. His father was a wool merchant whose father Charles Ingham Black was a noted Irish scholar and poet and formally the Vicar of Burley in Wharfedale. His mother Claire nee Delius was the sister of the famous conductor Frederick Delius of Bradford and who in 1935 would write his biography. When Hugh was very young the family moved to Victoria Avenue in Ilkley where he attended the grammar school. However, in 1914 the family left the town and moved to Castletown on the Isle of Man where Hugh attended King Williams College.

Hugh left school in 1917 when he achieved the age of 18 and enlisted into the army. His health was not of the strongest and he appears to have suffered from a weak heart which required periods of rest and recuperation. The army where aware of his medical history and on at least two occasions he was offered a discharge but he insisted that he must “do his bit” at the front. In the early summer of 1918 after completing his training Hugh embarked for active service with the 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers.

The German offensives of the spring and early summer had now drawn to a largely unsuccessful conclusion and although they remained an effective fighting force their strength was on the wane. The Allies on the other hand with their superior resources where looking for ways to hit back at their weakening enemy. In August the British and French armies massed to the north and east of the city of Amiens with a bold plan to smash the Germans with tanks and air power. On the morning of the 8th August Allied artillery pounded the German front line whilst hundreds of tanks rolled towards the enemy line supported by infantry. Unable to cope with this massive demonstration of power the German Army wavered, crumpled and began to retreat.

Hugh and his battalion were amongst the supporting infantry who raced across no mans land towards the Germans near to the village of Morlincourt. The enemy although weakened and disorganized continued to make a fight of it. Many men were lost including Hugh who was killed in what was probably his first taste of action. An officer wrote to his grieving parents about their sons final minutes and said “….his courage under fire for the first time was marvelous and an example to old soldiers; although a boy in years he had a man’s heart, and as a comrade and pal we shall not easily see his like again. He was a very gallant gentleman.

The body of Hugh McAlister Allen-Black was laid to rest near to where he fell but after the war moved to the British Military Cemetery at Villers Bretonneaux where he lies today. He is also remembered with pride on the war memorial at Ilkley Grammar School.

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