BLACK, Peyton Hamilton

  General Notes:

Friday, August 13th, 1954
PORTER BECAME TUBE LINE SECOND-IN-COMMAND
Mr. P. H. Black, of Edgware, retires after 47 Years
A well-known local man who started on the bottom rung of the railway ladder and rose to become second-in-command of the Northern Line retires to-morrow (Saturday) from London Transport after 47 years' service on the Underground.
He is 65-year-old Mr. Peyton Hamilton Black, of 47, Canons-drive, Edgware, who
started when he was 18 as a 16s.-a-week porter at Caledonian Road Station, on what was then the Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (now the Piccadilly Line). He became liftman, guard and motorman, and in 1924 he was appointed station master at Camden Town, the most important junction on the Northern Line, a year after the new tunnels were completed there.
In 1932 Mr. Black was promoted to divisional inspector and, eight years later, assistant district traffic superintendent. In 1948 he became district traffic superintendent, and in 1952 he was made assistant divisional superintendent,with responsibility for the organisation of staff and train services on the Northern and Northern City Lines.
Inside London Transport Mr.Black did a great deal of social, benevolent and Union Work. He has been a member of the council of the London Transport Benevolent Fund since its inception and represented the Northern Line on the general committee, of the Railway Convalescent Homes. He was the original organiser of the London Electric Railways annual sports at Burnt Oak, which have been held since 1929. For many years he worked for
the National Union of Railwaymen and more latterly for the Transport and Salaried Staffs' Association. He was a member of the National Executive of the N.U.R. for three years and was for ten years on the London District Council of the N.U.R.
In the Edgware district, where he has lived for the past 50 years, Mr. Black is well known. He is a former chairman of the Little Stanmore Parish Council and he was a founder member and a former Vice-chairman of North Stanmore Rate payers' Association.
Before coming to live In Edgware, Mr. Black served three years on Islington Borough Council as a Labour member. In 1918 he was labour Parliamentary agent for North Islington. and he also stood as a candidate for the London County Council. Mr. and Mrs. Black who have been married for 41 years and have a son and three daughters, are founder members of Edgware Methodist Church, and their son was one of the two children baptised in the old Court House when it was used as a meeting place for the church in the early days.
Their eldest daughter Mrs. Janet Rayner, left earlier this year to live in Singapore, where her husband is an Air Ministry official. Their son, 30-year-old Mr. Pat Black, who works at de Havillands, is captain of the Tabard Rugby Club.
In his retirement Mr. Black will spend a good deal of time on his favourite interests - gardening and motoring.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Superintendent London Transport Underground, 1907-1954, London.

• Education: Primrose Grange School, Knocknarea.

• Religion: methodist.

• Residence: 47 Canons Drive, Between 1936 and 1958, Edgware, Middlesex.

• Residence: 3 Bittacy Close, 1972, London, Nw7.

• Elected: Labour Parliamentary agent, 1918, North Islington.

• Will, 12 Dec 1969. £32,150.67

• Interests: gardening, motoring, politics and Methodist church work.

Peyton married Celia Jessie FRAMPTON, daughter of Edwin William John (William) FRAMPTON and Sarah Jane BATT, on 22 Sep 1913 in Wesleyan Church, Archway Road, Islington. (Celia Jessie FRAMPTON was born on 11 Mar 1892 in Islington, London and died on 10 Jul 1978.)