William Black, Baron Black

William Rushton Black, Baron Black (12 January 189327 December 1984) was a coachbuilder born in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria on 12 January 1893.

After education at Barrow Secondary school and Barrow Technical College he was apprenticed as an engineer to Vickers Ltd in 1908.

He became a director of Associated Commercial Vehicles in 1949 having the honour conferred by the Duke of Edinburgh on 14 July 1958. After the death Of Sir Henry Spurrier he became chairman of Leyland Motor Corporation in 1963. He retired from this post in 1966 after which Donald Stokes became chairman and Chief Executive of LMC. He was created Baron Black, of Barrow in Furness in the County Palatine of Lancaster on 21 June 1968.

Lord Black died on 27 December 1984.

Coat of arms

His coat of arms are a curiosity, since he was allowed by the heraldic authority to include his dog Fred and the monkey Bimbo. Fred had often escaped from the castle and ran to the nearby Chessington Zoo in Surrey, where he was regularly collected by the chauffeur in the Rolls-Royce of Lord Black. In the same zoo, of which Lord Black was one of the directors, the monkey Bimbo had escaped once and was only caught after a lengthy hunt. The baron was thankful for the publicity, and concluded that it would be a nice idea to include the pair of animals in his coat of arms.