Lawyer and academic. Born Charles Leonard Augustus Parsons in Yorkshire, he was the illegitimate son of travelling entertainers who gave him up for adoption to a Govan shipyard worker, James Blair, and his wife Mary. He was educated at Govan High School and, while there, became secretary of the Govan branch of the Scottish Young Communist League. He served in the Royal Signals during the Second World War and then trained in law at the University of Edinburgh. He married Hazel at Barony Church in Glasgow, and their sons were Sir William Blair (b. 1950), a High Court judge, and Sir Tony Blair (b. 1953), who became Leader of the Labour Party and British Prime Minister (1997 - 2007).
Blair lectured in law at the University of Adelaide in Australia (1954-58) and then joined the Law School at the University of Durham. He also became involved in politics, serving as Chair of the Durham Conservative Association, although was to join the Labour Party in 1994 after his son became its leader.
Blair died in Shrewsbury (England).