Alfred Balfour (7 September 1885 – 26 January 1963) was a British railwayman and politician. He worked his way up from being a baker's message boy to serve as a member of parliament for fourteen years. He was marked by his loyalty to party and near silence in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

where he waited eight years after being elected before making his

maiden Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

and only speech.

Youth

Balfour was the son of a shoemaker, and was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

."The Times House of Commons 1950", p. 264. He went only to elementary school, before beginning work as a baker's message boy. He later worked in a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

, in a

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

, and as a carter before joining the railways"Who Was Who", A & C Black. at the age of 19. In his youth he was a keen amateur boxer, and was for a time the amateur

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...

boxing champion of the North of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

."The Times House of Commons 1945", p. 121.

Railways

In 1913 he married Margaret Grant; they had three daughters. Balfour continued his education in evening classes including through the

Workers' Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...

and the National Council of Labour Colleges, and he also became an active member of the

National Union of Railwaymen The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. The largest railway workers' union in the country, it was influential in the national trade union movement. History The NUR was an industrial union ...

. He was Secretary of the Aberdeen branch of the NUR for twenty years, and represented railwaymen on Aberdeen Trades Council. For many years, Balfour was a member of the NUR Executive.M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981). His job was eventually to be parcels foreman at

Aberdeen railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Aberdeen station 01, August 2013.JPG , caption = Concourse at Aberdeen station (2013) , borough = Aberdeen, City of Aberdeen , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid refe ...

, and he was chairman of the employees' side of the sectional council of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway for twelve years."The Times House of Commons 1951", p. 205.

Politics

Through his union activities, Balfour became active in the Labour Party, being made a delegate to the Labour Party annual conference, and he served on Aberdeen Town Council from 1941 until he stood down in 1942. It was his prominence in the railway union which led to his selection as Labour candidate for West Stirlingshire at the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgarian ...

. He followed Thomas Johnston, who was Secretary of State for Scotland in the war-time Coalition."In Industrial Scotland", ''The Times'', 26 June 1945, p. 7.

Parliamentary activity

Balfour won the seat, but his election was unusual as he had a reduced majority compared to the 1935 general election; the election as a whole showed a strong movement to the Labour Party. In Parliament Balfour became a very low-profile Member. He made no speeches at all, and asked only a handful of questions in the first two years before contributing nothing in the last three sessions.See

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official prin ...

, House of Commons 5th Series, General Indexes for the sessions 1945–46 (vol. 429), 1946–47 (vol. 442), 1947–48 (vol. 455), 1948 (vol. 456), and 1949–50 (vol. 471). His silence was accompanied by invariable loyalty to the party whip. P. Norton, "Dissension in the House of Commons 1945–74" (Macmillan, 1975) shows no dissenting votes. In a free vote in December 1947 he supported a motion to cut the proposed additional allowance paid to Princess Elizabeth after her marriage."Royal Allowances", ''The Times'', 19 December 1947, p. 4. In the 1950 general election Balfour was re-elected with a majority increased to over 4,000, and in the 1951 election it increased again; both were against the national trend.

Belated maiden speech

On 14 July 1953, Balfour finally broke eight years' silence in the chamber to make his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

in a debate on industry in Scotland. As he began speaking, he explained that he had tried to get in to speak in other debates but found it so difficult that it was hardly worthwhile. He then observed "People get up here from time to time and keep us here for hours on end, and I have said 'What's the use of inflicting another torture upon the House?'"

, House of Commons 5th Series, vol. 517, col. 1953. In the main body of his speech he opposed the policy of building new towns when old towns, including those in his constituency, were becoming derelict."Parliament", ''The Times'', 15 July 1953, p. 3. His activity in the remainder of the Parliament was confined to asking several written Parliamentary Questions. In May 1954 he asked a written question about the cost of refurbishing the flat of the Secretary to the Lord Great Chamberlain on the

Parliamentary Estate The Parliamentary Estate is the land and buildings used by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The most notable part of the Parliamentary Estate is the Palace of Westminster, where the chambers of both houses of Parliament (the Commons and t ...

."Parliament", ''The Times'', 18 May 1954, p. 4.

Retirement

Re-elected with a reduced majority in the 1955 general election, Balfour did not make any further speeches or ask any questions (either oral or written)See

, House of Commons 5th Series, General Indexes for the sessions 1955–56 (vol. 559), 1956–57 (vol. 576), 1957–58 (vol. 593), and 1958–59 (vol. 611). before announcing in 1958 that he would not be a candidate for re-election."42 Members Not To Seek Re-Election", ''The Times'', 7 November 1958, p. 7. In his last months in the

, Balfour at first signed a motion put down by

Malcolm Macmillan Malcolm Kenneth MacMillan (21 August 1913 – 17 November 1978) was a Scottish Labour Party politician and journalist. At the 1935 general election, at the age of 22, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Western Isles. He joine ...

opposing the transfer of some

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

-assigned

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

nuclear bombers from France to United Kingdom bases. When party leader Hugh Gaitskell called on Labour members to withdraw their names, Balfour complied."Six More M.P.s Take Names Off Motion", ''The Times'', 2 July 1959, p. 4.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balfour, Alfred 1885 births 1963 deaths Scottish Labour councillors Scottish Labour MPs Politicians from Aberdeen London, Midland and Scottish Railway people National Union of Railwaymen-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stirling constituencies Councillors in Aberdeen