James Hunter-Blair (MP)

James Hunter-Blair
James Hunter-Blair
Member of Parliament ; for Ayrshire
	In office; 22 July 1852 – 5 November 1854
Preceded by	Alexander Haldane Oswald
Succeeded by	James Fergusson
Personal details
Born	22 March 1817
Died	5 November 1854 (aged 37); Inkerman, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire
Cause of death	Gunshot
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Parents	Sir David Hunter-Blair, 3rd Baronet; Dorothea Hay-Mackenzie

Colonel James Hunter-Blair (22 March 1817 – 5 November 1854)[1] was a British Conservative politician.[2][3]

Family

He was the eldest son of Sir David Hunter-Blair, 3rd Baronet and Dorothea née Hay-Mackenzie. While he was intended to inherit the Baronetcy of Dunskey, Wigtown upon his father's death, his own premature death meant his younger brother, Edward, succeeded to the title.[2][3][4]

Member of Parliament

In public service, Hunter-Blair was a Deputy Lieutenant for Ayrshire in 1845, before being elected Conservative MP for the county constituency at the 1852 general election and held the seat until his death in 1854.[5]

Death

Graves of officer who fell at the Battle of Inkerman, including Hunter-Blair's

An active member of the military, Hunter-Blair was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Scots Fusilier Guards from 1848, and was drafted to fight in the Crimean War, ultimately leading to his death at the Battle of Inkerman in 1854,[3] which caused deep shock and sadness among his parliamentary colleagues. In a letter to Lady Elizabeth Jocelyn—Lady Londonderry and wife of Frederick Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry—a few weeks after Blair's death, future prime minister Benjamin Disraeli said:

"Poor Hunter Blair. He was an able & zealous member of my parliamentary staff, & I saw him a day, or two, before his departure, & our last words, almost, were as to the chance of Adolphus [Lord Adolphus Vane] going out.
"...Hunter Blair, poor dear Hunter Blair, haunts me. He took us to Chobham! [the site of a military exercise in 1853]!"[4]

And, in a separate letter to Sarah Brydges Willyams in December 1854, Disraeli described Blair as "one of my most active aid-de-camps, & really invaluable both as a partisan & a friend", adding his death was a "severe loss to me".[4]

In a later letter to Disraeli, Conservative MP for Petersfield William Jolliffe said: "Poor Blair is a sad loss to our party. No one was of greater use to Taylor & I than he was, and on many occasions did excellent service." Meanwhile, James Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, stated: "Blair cannot be replaced for those who knew & liked him, either as a partisan or friend."[4]

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References

Rayment, Leigh (31 August 2018). "The House of Commons: Constituencies beginning with "A"". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
Foster, Joseph (1881). The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of The British Empre for 1881. London: Nichols and Sons. p. 333 – via Google Books.
Lundy, Darryl (29 August 2018). "James Hunter Blair". The Peerage. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
Wiebe, M. G.; Millar, Mary S.; Robson, Ann P., eds. (1982). Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1852-1856. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 380, 381, 387. ISBN 0-8020-4137-X. Retrieved 7 September 2018 – via Google Books.
Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 571. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Colonel James Blair

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Alexander Haldane Oswald	Member of Parliament for Ayrshire 1852–1854	Succeeded by James Fergusson

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[leighrayment-1] Rayment, Leigh (31 August 2018). "The House of Commons: Constituencies beginning with "A"". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.

[baronetage-2] Foster, Joseph (1881). The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of The British Empre for 1881. London: Nichols and Sons. p. 333 – via Google Books.

[peerage-3] Lundy, Darryl (29 August 2018). "James Hunter Blair". The Peerage. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.

[disraeli-4] Wiebe, M. G.; Millar, Mary S.; Robson, Ann P., eds. (1982). Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1852-1856. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 380, 381, 387. ISBN 0-8020-4137-X. Retrieved 7 September 2018 – via Google Books.

[craig1832-5] Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 571. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.