Cyril Black

Sir Cyril Wilson Black (8 April 1902 – 29 October 1991) was a British Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Wimbledon from 1950 to his retirement at the 1970 general election. He resisted liberalisation of laws on divorce, homosexuality, alcohol licensing and gambling, and supported the Baptist church.

Life and career Black was born in Kensington on 8 April 1902, one of the six children of Robert Wilson Black (1871–1951) and his wife Annie Louise (née North). He was educated at King's College School. He qualified as a chartered surveyor and became a successful property developer, making himself a millionaire before he reached the age of forty. He was elected as a Conservative Party Member of the House of Commons at the 1950 general election for the Wimbledon constituency. He held the seat until his retirement at the 1970 general election. the popular BBC comedy show Round the Horne, and immigration. . He proposed that every MP who voted for reform should print in his or her next election address that they were "in favour of private sodomy".

Black privately prosecuted the novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, when the government had decided on expert advice not to do so. He won the case in the lower courts, but on appeal the publisher, John Calder, won, and, in the view of The Times, Calder's success virtually ended book censorship in Britain. Black unsuccessfully campaigned against the publication of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. He also brought successful lawsuits against Private Eye for suggesting that he profited from a conflict of interests between his local government and property-development activities, and Socialist Leader for calling him a racist. and the director of a large number of other companies. His private commercial interests were so extensive – he held 49 directorships – that an unsuccessful attempt was made to ban him from membership of the House of Commons.

In a biographical essay for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Patrick Cosgrave wrote,

Black died on 29 October 1991.