John Blair (painter)

[2] His family background would not seem to have favoured his choice of career, which suggests a certain degree of ability in order to make it succeed, nor perhaps predicted him leaving an estate of £3418 4s 6d on his death in 1934.

[2][4][5] His parents Alexander and Elisabeth Blair (née Allan), together with their family of 5 children, moved around the area; the census recorded them in Hutton in 1851 and in Coldstream in 1861.

[2][4] Somewhere in this period, Blair attended the nearby Sunnyside school at Milne Graden, and it is there that local landowner David Milne-Home befriended him.

[1] By 1871 Blair had left home for South Leith, where he lodged with Francis and Clementina Brown at 8 Primrose Street, giving his occupation as "art student".

[10] Then in 1872 the Berwickshire News reported that Blair had been awarded both a gold and a silver medal: "We understand that the Edinburgh Schools of Arts for young men has this year been successful….. in the national competition of students recently held at London.

[13][14] His obituary in the Berwickshire News[15] stated that his "failing health in late years prevented him using the brush" and this may well explain why he no longer has any paintings exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy after 1920.