James Hunter Blair

James Hunter Blair was born James Hunter in February 1741. He married Jean Blair, the daughter and heiress of John Blair of Dunskey in Wigtownshire in 1770, the family name became Hunter Blair when she inherited her father's estate in 1777. The two had 14 children.

Hunter began his business career at the age of 15, as an apprentice in the Coutts bank in Edinburgh. In 1762 he became a partner when the firm was reorganized under Robert Herries as senior partner. The firm’s activities included the formation of the London Exchange Banking Company in 1771 for the issue of travellers cheques, an undertaking which led to a breach with the Couttses.

After Herries obtained the tobacco contract from the French farmers general in 1771 Hunter managed the department of the tobacco purchases. When the firm almost lost the contract in 1774 Hunter and Forbes, disliking Herries’s speculative business methods, dissolved the partnership, relinquished their share in the London Exchange Bank, and thereafter confined their activities to the Edinburgh banking business.

Hunter Blair was Member of Parliament for Edinburgh from 1780 to 1784 and Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1784. As Lord Provost, he carried through various reforms, including the beginning of work on rebuilding the University and the construction of the bridge over the Cowgate. The foundation stone of this bridge was laid by Lord Haddo, as Grand Master Mason of Scotland in 1785, after Parliament had passed an Act giving permission for the plans to be executed. Blair was knighted and created a baronet the following year, in 1786.