Thomas Balfour

Thomas Balfour of Elwick FRSE (2 April 1810 – 30 March 1838) )[1] was a Scottish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1835 to 1837. His brother was David Balfour (1811-1887) of Balfour FRSE.

For the Scottish physician, see Thomas Graham Balfour. For the Scottish physician and botanist, see Thomas Alexander Goldie Balfour.

Doune Terrace, Edinburgh
The grave of Thomas Balfour MP, St John's Churchyard, Edinburgh

Family

Balfour was the son of Captain William Balfour RN of Trenabie, Orkney. He became an advocate in 1831 and was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 16 March 1834.[1] His proposer was Thomas Stewart Traill.[2]

Balfour was elected Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland on 9 February 1835. He held the seat until 1837.[3] He was a Conservative.[4]

In 1837 he is living at 9 Doune Terrace on the Moray Estate.[5]

Balfour died unmarried at the age of 28. He is buried in the south-west corner of St Johns Churchyard in Edinburgh.

Trivia

His grandfather Col Thomas Balfour of Elwick was portrayed by Sir Henry Raeburn.[6]

References
  1. Royal Society of Edinburgh - Index of Fellows
  2. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5.
  3. Leigh Rayment House of Commons constituencies beginning with O[Usurped!]
  4. Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. pp. 207–208.
  5. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1837
  6. "PORTRAIT OF COLONEL THOMAS BALFOUR OF ELWICK". Artnet. Retrieved 25 September 2019.

A 24-page booklet - "Thomas Balfour M.P. for Orkney and Shetland, 1835-1837" - was published in 1978 by Kirkwall Grammar School.


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