Blayney Townley-Balfour (28 May 1769 – 22 December 1856) was an Irish politician and member of the

Protestant Ascendancy The ''Protestant Ascendancy'', known simply as the ''Ascendancy'', was the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland between the 17th century and the early 20th century by a minority of landowners, Protestant clergy, and members of th ...

. The Townley-Balfours were an Irish branch of Clan Balfour. His grandfather, also named Blayney Townley-Balfour, was a member of the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fra ...

(MP) for Carlingford. The grandson was MP for

Belturbet Belturbet (; ) is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. It lies on the N3 road, around north of Cavan town and from Dublin. It is also located around south of the border with Northern Ireland, between the counties of Cavan and Fermanagh, and fr ...

in 1800. He owned a large flour mill outside

Slane Slane () is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 (Dublin to Monaghan road) and the N51 (Drogheda to Navan road). As of the 2016 census ...

. He commissioned architect Francis Johnston to rebuild

Townley Hall Townley Hall is a Georgian country house which stands in parkland at Tullyallen some 5 km west of Drogheda, County Louth in the Republic of Ireland. It was designed by Irish architect Francis Johnston for the Townley Balfour family and ...

, the family seat between

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

and Slane. He was a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

for counties

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

and Meath,

High Sheriff of Louth The High Sheriff of Louth was the Crown's representative for County Louth, a territory known as his bailiwick. Selected from three nominated people, he held his office for the duration of a year. He had judicial, ceremonial and administrative func ...

in 1792, and deputy

Lord Lieutenant of Louth This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Louth. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 August 1831. Go ...

in 1852. Blayney Townley-Balfour married Lady Florence Cole, daughter of

William Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen William Willoughby Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen (1 March 1736 – 22 May 1803), styled The Honourable from 1760 to 1767, then known as Lord Mountflorence to 1776 and as Viscount Enniskillen to 1789, was an Irish peer and politician. Enniskille ...

; they had ten children. His eldest son, also Blayney Townley-Balfour (born 1799), was

Governor of the Bahamas This is a list of governors of the Bahamas. The first English settlement in the Bahamas was on Eleuthera. In 1670, the king granted the Bahamas to the lords proprietors of the Province of Carolina, but the islands were left to themselves. The loc ...

from 1833 to 1835.

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balfour, Blayney Townley Irish MPs 1798–1800 British governors of the Bahamas Politicians from County Meath Politicians from County Louth 1769 births 1856 deaths High Sheriffs of County Louth Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cavan constituencies Townley, Blayney