 He was a native of Irvine, Ayrshire.His father was a merchant-adventurer, John Blair of Windyedge, a younger brother of the family of Blair of that ilk; his mother was Beatrix Muir (of the house of Rowallan), who lived for nearly a century.From the parish school at Irvine Blair proceeded to the University of Glasgow, where he took his degree of M.A.