Obituary -
January 2005
Charles Fergusson, a cousin and neighbour, writes:
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JAMES HUNTER BLAIR
1926 to 2004 |
 The
death of James Hunter Blair on Christmas morning of 2004 has robbed
Scotland of, as he was once rightly described, ‘a national institution’.
He was born in 1926 in Savoy House,
Ayr, Scotland, the youngest son of Sir James Hunter Blair 7th Baronet,
who thereafter succeeded to Blairquhan, this beautiful estate of 2000
acres, in South Ayrshire. After education at Eton James served in
Germany in the Scots Guards and, following demobilisation in 1948, he
graduated in History at Balliol College, Oxford. Having started a career
in merchant banking in London, he found himself after three years
recalled to Scotland in order to run Blairquhan for his father.
 James,
known to many of his friends as Jamie, soon showed that he had inherited
Sir James’s flair for silviculture, and he demonstrated his own feeling
for architecture and conservation when, in 1968, he himself moved house
to Blairquhan. He began a long programme of restoration and improvement
of the mansion and other buildings, and of the estate’s woodlands and
grounds.
The happy result is a joy to those who
know Blairquhan. The revived walled garden is a particular triumph.
 To
the benefit of Ayrshire and indeed of Scotland, James’s deep knowledge
of country sports, Scottish buildings and the arts - especially music,
opera and Scottish painting - resulted in his enthusiastic championing
of such causes. He was a trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland
and of the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust. He served for 12 years on
the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland and held the highest offices
in the Royal Scottish Forestry Society, the Historic Houses Association
in Scotland and other societies and charities. Locally he actively
supported countless smaller bodies where he gave his time unstintingly.
James Hunter Blair was a tirelessly
generous, humorous and kindly man whose peerless hospitality was
renowned. The many who visited his beloved Blairquhan will not quickly
forget the unfailing warmth of their welcome. He is succeeded here by
his cousin Patrick with his wife Marguerite and their five children.
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