George Black

Black, George

George Black, lawyer, politician, commissioner of the Yukon Territory, MP (b at Woodstock, NB 10 Apr 1873; d at Vancouver, BC 23 Aug 1965). Although less a celebrity than his wife Martha Louise BLACK, whom he married in 1904, Black was an outspoken Conservative politician and a staunch defender of Yukon interests for almost half a century. Educated in Richibucto and Fredericton, he was called to the New Brunswick Bar in 1896. He joined the rush to the KLONDIKE in 1898 and spent 2 years mining on Livingston Creek. Beginning in 1900, he practised law in Dawson and Whitehorse.

He was active in politics, representing Klondike in the Yukon Council from 1905 to 1911, and unsuccessfully contesting the Yukon seat in Parliament in 1909. From 1912 to 1918, he served as commissioner of the YT. In 1916 he was instrumental in recruiting the Yukon Infantry Co and held the rank of captain. He was wounded in action in France in 1918.

An unsuccessful candidate in the BC election of 1920, Black won the Yukon seat in Parliament in 1921 and held it until 1935. He was speaker of the Commons during the R.B. Bennett administration and in that office acquired a reputation for eccentric behaviour. When ill health prevented his seeking re-election in 1935, his wife ran and held the seat. He was returned again in 1940 and 1944. Black later came out of retirement to contest the Yukon seat in 1953 but was defeated.