Early Years
Blair was born at Coalfalls, Ipswich, Queensland on 16 May 1870. He was the son of Gordon Blair and Julie Blair (née Droughton). He was first educated by his mother but he later attended Ipswich West State School. He later attended Ipswich Grammar School between 1882 and 1888. He read for the preliminary Queensland Bar examinations in Brisbane. Blair lived in Swanwick at the time and was called to the Queensland Bar on 6 March 1894.
Blair shared chambers with the Queensland Attorney General of the time, Thomas Joseph Byrnes. Blair appeared as junior counsel in many significant cases. One of those was the appeal to the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Queensland by Patrick Kenniff and James Kenniff. Both had been convicted of murdering a property owner and a police constable after the homestead they were staying in was burnt to the ground. The appeal did not succeed and Patrick Kenniff was executed soon after and his brother went on to serve a gaol term.
Read more about this topic: James Blair (Australian Judge)
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