James Blair (MP) facts for kids

James Blair (born around 1788 – died September 9, 1841) was a Scottish-Irish man who owned large farms called plantations in the West Indies. These plantations used enslaved people for labor. He became a member of the British Parliament in 1818 to protect the interests of slave owners.

Blair served in the House of Commons, which is part of the UK government, from 1818 to 1830, and again from 1837 to 1841. When slavery was ended in British colonies in 1833, slave owners were paid money as "compensation." James Blair received the largest single payment.

Early Life and Family Background

James Blair was the son of John Blair, who lived in County Armagh, Ireland. However, his family originally came from Wigtownshire in Scotland. Most of their business interests were also in Scotland.

Plantations and Slavery

In 1815, James Blair and his cousin John MacEamon inherited sugar and cotton plantations from his father's brother, Lambert Blair. These plantations were located in places like Berbice, Demerara, and Surinam in South America.

In 1833, the British Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. This law made slavery illegal across the entire British Empire. The government decided to pay slave owners for the enslaved people they "lost," because at the time, enslaved people were considered property. A huge amount of money, £20 million, was set aside for this. This was about 40% of the United Kingdom's yearly budget!

James Blair owned 1,598 enslaved people on his Blairmont plantation in British Guyana. He received the largest single payment from this fund, which was £83,530. (Other people, like John Gladstone, made many claims that added up to more money overall.)

Time in Parliament

In the 1818 election, James Blair bought a seat in Parliament. He represented a "rotten borough" called Saltash in Devon. A rotten borough was an area with very few voters, but it still had a representative in Parliament. This meant it was easy for wealthy people to buy their way into Parliament.

In the 1820 election, Blair was elected for another rotten borough, Aldeburgh in Suffolk.

Blair's main reason for being in Parliament was to protect the interests of plantation owners and slavery. He usually voted with the Tory party. He did not speak much in Parliament until March 1824. This was during debates after the Demerara rebellion of 1823, a revolt by enslaved people.

Blair argued against making life better for enslaved people. He claimed that enslaved people in Demerara were treated "as mildly and as humanely" as possible given their situation. He also said that the rebellion was caused by the debates happening in Parliament. His only other speech was in 1825, when he supported special tax rules that favored sugar imported from the West Indies. He was also an active member of the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants, a group that supported West Indian plantation owners.

After 1826, Blair represented Minehead in Parliament. He continued to vote on Tory lines. He voted against ending laws that limited the rights of certain religious groups, such as the Test Acts, and against giving full rights to Jewish people and Catholics.

Blair left Parliament in 1830. He hoped to get a seat in Wigtownshire, Scotland, but he did not return to the House of Commons for seven years.

He ran for the Wigtownshire seat in 1835 but lost. However, in the 1837 election, he won the seat. In the general election in August of that year, Blair lost his seat again.

Family and Later Life

In 1815, James Blair married Elizabeth Catherine Stopford. She was the youngest daughter of Lieutenant-General Hon Edward Stopford. In 1825, Blair bought the Penninghame estate in Wigtownshire, Scotland. This estate included the lands of Penninghame, Castle Stewart, and Fintalloch.

Blair died less than a month after losing the 1841 election. He was about 53 years old. His will was very long and left many gifts, totaling £300,000. Most of his wealth, including the Penninghame estate, was left to his brother-in-law, William Henry Stopford. In 1842, Colonel Stopford changed his name to Stopford-Blair and added the Blair family's coat of arms to his own.