George William Black was born in Boston, Lincolnshire on 21 January 1903 and was educated at Boston Grammar School and at the Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1926. During his early years in London he became very conscious of the divisions in English life, joining the Fabian Society and becoming a lifelong socialist. He was strongly influenced by George Bernard Shaw and moved in many literary and political circles, also frequenting theatres and art galleries. After qualifying he pursued a career in ophthalmology and initially built up a private practice in London before joining the consultant staff at Leeds in 1933. He was a pioneer in corneal grafting and also in the repair of retinal detachment. He was a founder member of the British Faculty of Ophthalmologists and served as its representative on the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons. Throughout his life in Leeds George built up a small collection of works of art. Among his friends he counted Jacob Epstein whom he had met during the war. With his family in the United States and fearful that they might not see him again, he sat for the sculptor in his operating gown. Although he retired from his hospital appointment in Leeds at the age of 65 he continued as a locum consultant in Wakefield for a further five years as well as doing clinics in Wakefield prison and acting as a council member for the Royal National Institute for the Blind. He continued in private practice until shortly before his death on 16 September 1987. In 1935 he married Stella Harding of New York who died in 1971. The following year he married Marlene Bailey who survives him, as do his two daughters and two sons, Sebastian, Caroline, Margarita and Edward.