Gerald William Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour,
PC (9 April 1853 – 14 January 1945), known as Gerald Balfour or The Rt Hon. G. W. Balfour until 1930, was a senior British
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
politician who became a peer on the death of his brother, former prime minister
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...
, in 1930.
Background and education
Balfour was the fourth son of
James Maitland Balfour
James Maitland Balfour (5 January 1820 – 23 February 1856) was a Scottish land-owner and businessman. He made a fortune in the 19th-century railway boom, and inherited a significant portion of his father's great wealth.
He was a Conservative ...
, of
Whittingehame
Whittingehame is a parish with a small village in East Lothian, Scotland, about halfway between Haddington and Dunbar, and near East Linton. The area is on the slopes of the Lammermuir Hills. Whittingehame Tower dates from the 15th century an ...
,
Haddingtonshire, and Lady Blanche Cecil, daughter of
James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. Two
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
s were immediate relations:
Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, his elder brother, and
Lord Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...
, his uncle. He was educated at
Eton and at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
, where he gained 1st Class Honours in the Classical
Tripos
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
.
Political career
Balfour sat as
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Member of Parliament for
Leeds Central
Leeds Central is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency recreated in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 1999 b ...
from 1885 to 1906. During this time he was a member of Commission on Labour, and
private secretary
A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family.
The role exists in ...
to his brother,
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...
, when he was
president of the Local Government Board from 1885 to 1886. He served as
Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1895 to 1900, as
president of the Board of Trade from 1900 to 1905 and as
president of the Local Government Board in 1905. He was admitted to the
Privy Council of Ireland in 1895, and to the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1905.
After losing his seat in the House of Commons in the Liberal landslide of
1906
Events
January–February
* January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...
, he was chairman of the Commission on Lighthouse Administration in 1908, and chairman of the Cambridge Committee of the Commission on Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He succeeded his brother Arthur as second Earl of Balfour in 1930, according to a special remainder in the
letters patent and took a seat in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
.
Personal life and academic honours
During his first spell at the Houses of Parliament, Balfour received an honorary
LLD from Cambridge University, and was a fellow of
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
.
From 1901 Balfour lived at Fisher's Hill House, a large home which he had built by
Lutyens in
Hook Heath,
Woking,
Surrey, also living in the rural hamlet by 1911 was
Alfred Lyttelton
Alfred Lyttelton KC (7 February 1857 – 5 July 1913) was a British politician and sportsman from the Lyttelton family who excelled at both football and cricket. During his time at university he participated in Varsity Matches in five sports ...
(
Lib. U.),
Secretary of State for the Colonies (1903–1905) who married into his wider family and the
Duke of Sutherland.
Balfour was interested in
parapsychology
Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...
. He was President of the
Society for Psychical Research
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to co ...
(1906–1907).
Marriage and children
Lord Balfour married
Lady Elizabeth Edith "Betty" Bulwer-Lytton, daughter of the
1st Earl of Lytton, former
Viceroy of India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...
, in 1887. They had six children:
* Lady Eleanor Balfour (1890 – d. after 1980)
* Lady Ruth Balfour (d. 30 August 1967)
* Mary Edith Balfour (d. 21 January 1894 – 1980)
*
Lady Evelyn Barbara "Eve" Balfour (16 July 1898 – 1990)
*
Robert Arthur Lytton Balfour, 3rd Earl of Balfour (31 December 1902 – 28 November 1968)
* Lady Kathleen Constance Blanche Balfour (1912 – 20 August 1996).
An affair with Welsh Liberal politician
Winifred Coombe Tennant resulted in a further child, Augustus Henry.
[Secret life story of psychic MP Winifred Coombe Tennant, BBC News, 18 May 201]
/ref>
The Countess of Balfour died in 1942, aged 74. Lord Balfour survived her by three years and died in January 1945, aged 91, by which time he was the last surviving member of any of long-serving Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Salisbury's cabinets. He was succeeded in the earldom by his only son Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
.
References
Further reading
* Gerald Balfour. (1908)
''Some Recent Investigations by the Society for Psychical Research''
'' The Hibbert Journal''. 7: 241–260.
* G. E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant'', new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XIII, p. 373.
* Peter W. Hammond, editor, ''The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda'' ( Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 1998), p. 691.
* Charles Mosley, editor, ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition'', 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, p. 173.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balfour, Gerald
Balfour, Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of
Balfour, Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Chief Secretaries for Ireland
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Balfour, Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of
Balfour, Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of
Parapsychologists
People educated at Eton College
UK MPs 1885–1886
UK MPs 1886–1892
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
UK MPs 1900–1906
UK MPs who inherited peerages
Presidents of the Board of Trade
*2