James Black was born in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland. His father Samuel was an engineer. His mother was Margaret Hill Macmillan, the daughter of a farmer. James was educated at Falkirk School, and then went on to study medicine at Glasgow.

He was house physician, house surgeon and then RMO at Durham County Hospital. In 1936 he was appointed registrar at Sunderland Royal Infirmary. During the second world war, he served as a medical specialist in the RAMC, reaching the rank of major. Following demobilisation, in 1945, he was appointed an honorary assistant physician at the Sunderland Royal Infirmary. He wrote papers on blindness and on nutrition in north east England.

He married Jean Hamilton Anderson in 1936 and they had three children. He was made a Fellow of the College in 1970, and at that time listed golf and sailing among his interests.

RCP editor