THE senior partner in the legal firm of Black, Honeyman, & Monteath was born in Glasgow, 23rd December, 1857. He represents the Blacks in Abington, a very old Upper Ward Lanarkshire family, and by the marriage of an ancestor has Huguenot blood in his veins. His great-grandfather was the first of the family to settle in Glasgow, and his portrait and those of many of his relations are in Mr. Black's possession, and were exhibited at the Old Glasgow Exhibition of 1894. A grand-uncle founded the firm of Black & Wingate, and his father's cousin the firm of James Black & Co. He was educated at Glasgow Academy and the Albany Academy, and at Glasgow University, in all of which he took prizes.
    One of these was a special award at the University for an essay on the "Influence of the Renaissance on European Literature." He studied also at Gottingen in 1879. In 1884 he became a partner in his father's firm of Black, Honeyman, & Monteath, a firm which under two or three firm names is over a century old.
    He has contributed to the Glasgow Herald on legal and archaeological subjects, and his work has also appeared in Blackwood's Magazine, the Athenaeum, the Antiquary, the Scottish Law Review, and other periodicals. In 1878 a paper by him on curative charms and spells, under the title of "Folk Medicine," was read before the British Archaeological Association. At the request of the Folklore Society, of which he was one of the founders, he wrote a book on the same subject, which was published in 1883. Its reception was flattering both at home and abroad, and it was translated into Spanish. In 1880 Mr. Black was elected joint honorary secretary with Mr. J. D. G. Dalrymple of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, and the later activity of that body is largely due to the new blood thus introduced. Among other papers which Mr. Black contributed was one on "The Derivation of the name Glasgow," and is account of " David Dale's house in Charlotte Street" appears in one of the volumes published by the Regality Club. In 1884 he published a small volume on the Law Agents' Act of 1873, which was favourably received by the profession.
    Two years later he acted as joint agent for the Hillhead and Kelvinside Annexation Bill, and as Glasgow Secretary for the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886, when he had the honour of being presented to Queen Victoria. He also took an active part in the agitation against Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill, both as Secretary of the Liberal Unionists of the Central Division and as election agent for Mr. Vary Campbell in the College Division.
    For many years he took great pleasure in visiting Heligoland, where a singularly cosmopolitan society was gathered during the summer months. His book on "Heligoland and the Islands of the North Sea," is probably the finest description in English of the Frisian people and their legends, and was translated into German. On the death of his uncle in 1867 he had become owner of the estate of Annathill, and as a Commissioner of Supply for Lanarkshire his interest in the complicated state of local government of that time led him to contribute a paper on the subject to the Law Magazine and Review, which was afterwards published separately. He had also succeeded his father as Clerk to the Heritors of Govan, and the problems encountered in that office led to the writing of his volume on the "Parochial Ecclesiastical Law of Scotland," which has gone through three editions. In the last of those he incorporated a work on the history of tithes in Scotland, previously published under the title of "What is Teinds?" in 1893. His reputation for knowledge of such branches of law has led to his appearance in many sheriff courts in cases relating to manses and churches. He is an elder of Park Parish Church, and a member of various committees of the General Assembly.
    Among his other works are: "The Law relating to County Councils," 1889; "A Digest of Decisions in Scottish Shipping Cases, 1865-1890, with Notes," 1891; "A Handbook of Scottish Parochial Law other than Ecclesiastical," 1893; and contributions to the Dictionary of National Biography on the lives of Old Mortality and others.
    In 1896, on the invitation of the Faculty of Divinity of Glasgow University, he delivered a series of lectures on "Parochial Ecclesiastical Law" to the Divinity students at Gilmorehill, and he is a Vice-President of the Church Law Society. During his youth he was an active member, and for a time Vice-President, of the Juridical Society, and he is now an honorary member. In 1886, in conjunction with Mrs. Parker Smith, he formed the Women's Liberal Unionist Association, and he is a Vice-President of the West of Scotland Liberal Unionist Association. He contested the South Division of the City of Aberdeen against the Right Hon. James Bryce at the General Election of 1906, and subsequently went on a tour of eight months round the world. With the Rev. the Hon. arthur Gordon, B.D., he represented the Church of Scotland at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Churches of India held at Indore in December, 1906. He is a Governor of Baillie's Institution, and a member of Council of the Regality Club, and of the Master Court of the Weavers' Incorporation. He is a member of the New, Art, and College Clubs, Glasgow; the University Club, Edinburgh; and the Royal Societies Club, London. His hobbies are travel and book collecting. He married in 1899 Miss Anna Robertson Blackie, daughter of the late Mr. Robert Blackie, of Blackie & Sons, publishers, and niece of the late Lord Provost Blackie, and she takes a keen interest in philanthropic work in Glasgow.

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