AN extrovert party-giver, partygoer and stately-home-owner, Jamie HunterBlair had as wide a circle of friends as any of his generation in Scotland. He was born in 1926 at Blairquhan Castle, Ayrshire, the youngest son of Sir James Hunter Blair, 7th baronet.
Built on the site of a castle of 1346, the house was designed in 1821 by William Burn for Jamie's great-great grandfather, the 3rd baronet. Its Tudorgothic elevations were never spoiled by additions or alterations. When the estate was made over by his father to Jamie in the early 1960s, its 70 rooms were more than enough for his needs as a bachelor; but, as he was a larger-than-life character and had endless house-parties of boisterous friends, Blairquhan somehow never seemed empty.
After Eton, he was commissioned in the Scots Guards, being demobilised in 1948.
Like his father and elder surviving brother (now the 8th baronet) he took a degree at Balliol College, Oxford. The next three years were spent in London working without great success for a merchant bank.
Back in Scotland, he learned about land management on one of the Buccleuch estates before returning home to run Blairquhan for his father, who recognised in Jamie a special flair for conservation, forestry and property management. He lived at first in the large Victorian dower house, called Milton. Later, he and his widowed father swopped houses, Sir James moving into Milton with his collection of paintings by the Scottish colourists, leaving the old-fashioned mansion with its original furniture for this son's occupation.
Jamie undertook a major programme of improvements, done in great style with the advice of the architect Michael Laird. A typical part of the specification was: "Library restored from sundry subdivisions. Red bedroom restored from three small subdivisions.
New bathroom formed in passageway serving restored north and west bedrooms. Two new bathrooms formed from existing dressing room to serve Canopy and Oriel bedrooms reconstructed from the old library . . ." The result was a stunningly beautiful and comfortable house, featuring its 60ft-high central saloon.
Jamie will be remembered for his energetic hospitality and his special language - mainly his own invention, but with a mixture of Eton and Pirbright jargon - eg kip-house for bedroom and to mob up which was to visit uninvited. His favourite word was "loyal", a general term of approval except in the phrase "loyal champagne"which meant the pretending fizz served by others.
Like many Scottish lairds he drank more whisky than was good for him, a condition he identified among his neighbours as "dram trouble". To avoid saying anything too nasty, he might say, "I don't want to be disloyal, and they were very kind to have us, but gosh!" or "I've heard it said that she is a tiny bit too pleased with herself for some tastes". Or "a bit of an old wretch".
Guests were sometimes asked to dine in "jokey clothes", and always to play noisy afterdinner games in the library or "Freda" in the billiard room. To some, who did not know him intimately, all this may have looked like sheer buffoonery;
but behind the Falstaffian facade there was a man who had profound knowledge and love of architecture, furniture, interior design, Scottish painting, music, angling, trees and garden design. His imaginative layout of the neglected 1820 walled garden was not only a private triumph, but also resulted in (Pounds)23,600 being raised by charity openings.
Public recognition came in several ways. He was chairman in Scotland of the Historic Houses Association, president of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society, and chairman of the Ayrshire Rivers Trust. As well as the Scottish Landowners' Federation, he served for 12 years on the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland, and was a Trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland. Until retirement, he was the representative for SW Scotland of Christie's, the auctioneers.
He did much to encourage opera (Figs being his favourite) in the west of Scotland. With musical friends, also, he helped to produce revues at the nearby Gaiety Theatre, starting in 1956 with Give Us Ayr, in which Jamie notably played Julius Caesar on roller skates.
From the 1970s onwards, Blairquhan, with its 500 acres of parkland, came to be used not only as Jamie's private house but also for corporate entertainment, weddings and film location work. His sense of fun, his skill as a host, and his devoted staff, added to the joy of any reception, concert or sporting weekend centred on Blairquhan, even making business conferences less dull than they might otherwise be. At very busy times, for instance when the Open Golf Championship took place in Ayrshire, up to 80 guests could be accommodated in the mansion, in Milton, and in the seven holiday cottages which Jamie had converted from outbuildings within the grounds.
Jamie loved "BQ", even though its upkeep became a perpetual drain on his post-Lloyds'wealth. "If I didn't have this place, " he said in 1993, "I'd be frightfully well-off, wouldn't I?"
While he worked with amazing energy at running the estate and organising events, he still had time to be welcomed by his widespread friends. Jamie's loud cry of "loyal", with his bear-like hugs for the ladies, could be expected at any fashionable gathering in Scotland from west to east.
Hug though he might, and in spite of being surrounded by "seriously pretty" girls of all ages, he never got round to marrying any of them. In a letter congratulating friends on the engagement of their daughter in 1983, he wrote, "It was SOOPER seeing her and finding her as loyal as always, and even prettier - a disloyal habit girls have when they get engaged just to show one that one should have tried harder."
James Hunter Blair, laird of Blairquhan Castle; born March 18, 1926, died December 25, 2004.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article