Colonel James Hunter-Blair (22 March 1817 – 5 November 1854) was a British Conservative politician.
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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.
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.
Death
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, 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: