William Blair

British, 1799 - 1873

BiographyWilliam Blair was born at Avontoun, near Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, around 1799, the youngest of seven children and only surviving son of Isabella Cornelia (Halkett) (d.1858) and the Rt. Hon. Robert Blair (1741-1811). His grandfather, the Rev. Robert Blair (1699-1746), was famed as the author of The Grave, a morbid poem in blank verse published in 1743. The sudden death of William Blair's father's on May 20, 1811 was a cause of widespread sorrow and disappointment. Known for his "innate love of justice and abhorrence of iniquity," he had earned great respect while serving as Lord President of the College of Justice, Edinburgh, Deputy Advocate and Solicitor General for Scotland (1789-1806), and President of the College of Justice (1808). However, he left his widow and daughters so poorly provided for that they were granted a pension by the crown. Despite the family's financial hardship, William Blair had an early opportunity to travel to continental Europe, and was in the French port town of Marseilles in January 1815. Like his father, he ultimately pursued a legal career. In 1821 he was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates, and thereafter obtained a considerable practice at the Bar. In 1826 he married Jane Christian Nourse (1808-1872) of Cape Town, South Africa. They had five children, none of whom married. Blair served as chief justice in Corfu and died in 1873.

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