Leslie Balfour-Melville (9 March 1854 – 17 July 1937), born Leslie Balfour, was a Scottish

amateur sportsman Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sporting participants, who are paid for the time they spend competing ...

, serving as captain,

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

, and

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

for the

Scotland national cricket team The Scotland national cricket team represents the country of Scotland. They play their home matches at The Grange, Edinburgh, and also some other venues. Scotland became Associate Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1994

. Balfour-Melville was also an international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player,

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

ice skater Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be perf ...

, curler, long-jumper, and player of

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the United Kingdom and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team us ...

. He was a prolific

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

medal winner, winning

The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

, at

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

in 1895. He also held several administrative positions within national governing bodies. He was President of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

, President of the

Scottish Cricket Union Cricket Scotland, formerly known as the Scottish Cricket Union, is the governing body of the sport of cricket in Scotland. The body is based at the National Cricket Academy, Edinburgh. The SCU was formed in 1908, but underwent a major restruc ...

, and Captain of

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation kn ...

in 1906. Balfour-Melville was an inaugural inductee into the

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame is the national sports hall of fame of Scotland, set up in 2002. It is a joint project organised by sportscotland, the national governmental body for Scottish sport, and National Museums Scotland. It is also funded ...

in 2002.

Biography

Balfour was born in

Bonnington, Edinburgh Bonnington is a district of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The area centres upon an original village which grew up around a ford on the Water of Leith on the old boundary between Edinburgh and the port of Leith. Before the creation of L ...

, on 9 March 1854Player profile
on scrum.com. Retrieved 17 February 2010. the son of James Balfour Melville (1815–1898) and his wife, Eliza Ogilvy Heriot Maitland (1821–1887). He was educated at the

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, he became a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

by profession, rising to be a

Writer to the Signet The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of document ...

. In 1893 the family changed its name to Balfour-Melville when his father succeeded to the estate of Mount Melville near

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. His Edinburgh residence was at 53 Hanover Street in

Edinburgh's New Town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...

. His son

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

also played cricket for Scotland before losing his life in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Balfour-Melville died in

North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on th ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

, on 16 July 1937. He is buried with his parents in the family tomb in the south-west corner of

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a num ...

close to the Robertson mausoleum. On his grave he is named simply as Leslie Melville.

Cricket career

Playing for the

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austral ...

, he debuted against the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

in 1874. He played eighteen matches for the national side over 36 years. He captained Scotland in their first match against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

after the formation of the 2nd

, and was the first president of the Scottish Cricket Union to play for the national side. During his career he scored 46

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

. He served as president of the Scottish Cricket Union in 1909.

Golf career

Major championships

Amateur wins

Results timeline

''Note: Balfour-Melville only played in the Open Championship and the Amateur Championship.''
LA = Low amateur
NT = No tournament
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, , = Round in which player lost in match play

Team appearances

England–Scotland Amateur Match The England–Scotland Amateur Match was an annual men's amateur golf competition between teams representing England and Scotland. It was played from 1902 to 1931, although the match lapsed between 1913 and 1921. The match continued after 1931 but ...

(representing Scotland): 1902 (winners), 1903

Rugby union career

Amateur career

Leslie Balfour, as he was then, played for

Edinburgh Academicals The Edinburgh Academical Football Club, also known as Edinburgh Accies, is a rugby union club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club is currently a member of the Scottish Premiership, the top tier of Scottish club rugby. Its home ground is Raeburn Pl ...

International career

He was capped once in 1872.

Referee career

He refereed the East v West district match in 1880.

Administrative career

Balfour-Melville became the 21st

President of the Scottish Rugby Union The President of the Scottish Rugby Union is the figurehead of rugby union in Scotland. Origin In 1873, and directly after the Scotland versus England international match, representatives from eight Scottish rugby union sides came together in Gla ...

. He served the 1893–94 term in office.

Tennis career

Balfour won the Scottish Lawn Tennis Championships in 1879.

Achievements

* Played rugby for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, 1872 * Scottish Lawn Tennis Championship winner, 1879 * Captained Scotland to a cricketing victory over Australia, 1882 *

winner, 1895; and runner-up in 1889; both at

St Andrews Links St Andrews Links in the town of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, is regarded as the "Home of Golf.” It has one of the oldest courses in the world, where the game has been played since the 15th century. Today there are seven public golf courses; the ...

* Scottish billiards champion

References

External links

*
Player profile
on scrum.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balfour-Melville, Leslie 1854 births 1937 deaths 19th-century male tennis players 19th-century Scottish people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Amateur golfers British male tennis players Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard Cricketers from Edinburgh Curlers from Edinburgh Edinburgh Academicals rugby union players Free Foresters cricketers Golfers from Edinburgh Grange cricketers I Zingari cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers People educated at Edinburgh Academy Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union Rugby union players from Edinburgh Scotland international rugby union players Scottish cricketers Scottish Districts referees Scottish lawyers Scottish male curlers Scottish male golfers Scottish male long jumpers Scottish male tennis players Scottish players of English billiards Scottish rugby union players Scottish rugby union referees Wicket-keepers Scottish cricket administrators