Colonel James Hunter-Blair (22 March 1817 – 5 November 1854) was a British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician.

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 Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

, succeeded to the title.

Member of Parliament

In public service, Hunter-Blair was a Deputy Lieutenant for

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

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.

Death

An active member of the military, Hunter-Blair was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the

Scots Fusilier Guards Scots may refer to: People and cultures * Scots language * Scottish people * Scoti, a Latin name for the Gaels Other uses * SCOTS, abbreviation for Royal Regiment of Scotland * Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech (SCOTS), a linguistic resource * ...

from 1848, and was drafted to fight in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, ultimately leading to his death at the

Battle of Inkerman The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on 5 November 1854 between the allied armies of Britain and France against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, and w ...

in 1854, 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 Frederick William Robert Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry (7 July 1805–25 November 1872), styled Viscount Castlereagh from 1822 to 1854, was a British nobleman and Tory politician. He was briefly Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under S ...

—a few weeks after Blair's death, future prime minister

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

said: 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". In a later letter to Disraeli, Conservative MP for

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own Petersfield railway station, railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rai ...

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 James Howard Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury, GCB, PC (25 March 1807 – 17 May 1889), styled Viscount FitzHarris from 1820 to 1841, was a British statesman of the Victorian era. Background and education James Howard Harris was born on 25 Mar ...

, the

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs may refer to: * Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Spain) *Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK) The secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs, also known as the fore ...

, stated: "Blair cannot be replaced for those who knew & liked him, either as a partisan or friend." He is commemorated by the Colonel Hunter Blair Monument, a stone obelisk on Highgate Hill,

Straiton Straiton is a village on the River Girvan in South Ayrshire in Scotland. It lies in the hills between Kirkmichael, Dalmellington, Crosshill, and Maybole. Straiton was mainly built in the 18th century to house mill workers and weavers workin ...

, near the Hunter-Blair family home

Blairquhan Castle Blairquhan ( , ) is a Regency era The Regency era of British history is commonly understood as the years between and 1837, although the official regency for which it is named only spanned the years 1811 to 1820. King George III first suf ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter-Blair, James UK MPs 1852–1857 1817 births 1854 deaths Scottish Tory MPs (pre-1912) Deputy lieutenants of Ayrshire British military personnel killed in the Crimean War British Army personnel of the Crimean War