Social Victorians/People/Balfour

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Also Known As[edit | edit source]

  • Family name: Balfour
  • Arthur Balfour
  • The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour
  • Prince Arthur (not Victoria's son Arthur, obviously)
  • 1st Earl of Balfour
    • Arthur James Balfour (25 July 1848 – 19 March 1930

Overview[edit | edit source]

  • Arthur Balfour's sister Alice kept house for him.[1]
  • Speaking of how much of Balfour's important early start to his career was due to his landed, patrician heritage, David Cannadine says,

    Balfour ... enjoyed all the advantages that birth (and brains) could bestow. His father was a Scottish country gentleman, owning 87,000 acres worth £19,800 a year. The great Lord Salisbury was his uncle, the Duke of Wellington was his godfather, and one of his brothers-in-law, Lord Rayleigh, won the Nobel prize for Physics. He was clever, witty, urbane, detached; he was an amateur philosopher of some distinction; and he was at the very centre of that self-regarding coterie known as the Souls. He became an MP at / twenty-six through his Cecil connections, and was immediately appointed private secretary to his uncle.[2] (225–26)

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies[edit | edit source]

Friends[edit | edit source]

Romantic Relationships[edit | edit source]

  • May Lyttelton
  • Margot Tennant, later Margot Asquith
  • Mary Charteris (née Wyndham), Lady Elcho, later Countess of Wemyss and March

Organizations[edit | edit source]

  • Trinity College, University of Cambridge
  • The Souls
  • Conservative Party
  • House of Commons (on and off until 1922)
  • Prime Minister of England, 1902– December 1905
  • Society for Psychical Research

Timeline[edit | edit source]

1871 July 19, Evelyn Georgiana Mary Balfour and John William Strutt (3rd Baron Rayleigh of Terling Place as of 14 June 1873), married.[3]

1876, Eleanor Mildred Balfour and Henry Sidgwick married.[4]

1897 July 2, Friday, Arthur Balfour and a Miss Balfour (possibly Alice Balfour, who kept house for him) attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House. (Arthur Balfour is #86 on the list of people who were present; Miss Balfour is #486)

1902 July, Arthur Balfour became Prime Minister.[5]

1905 December, Arthur Balfour resigned from the post of Prime Minister.[5]

1922 May 5, Arthur Balfour was made Earl of Balfour and Viscount Thaprain, of Whittingehame, in the county of Haddington.[6]

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball[edit | edit source]

Arthur Balfour[edit | edit source]

Black-and-white photograph of a standing woman and man and a seated man richly dressed in an historical costumes
Mrs. Ettie Grenfell as Marie de Medici; Sir William Harcourt as Simon, Lord Harcourt, Lord Chancellor 1710; Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour as a gentleman of Holland. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Arthur Balfour was photographed in his costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball with Sir William Harcourt and Ettie Grenfell.

Lafayette's portrait (right) of "Ethel Anne Priscilla ('Ettie') Grenfell (née Fane), Lady Desborough as Marie de Medici; Sir William Vernon Harcourt as Simon, Lord Harcourt, Lord Chancellor 1710; Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour as a gentleman of Holland" in costume is photogravure #272 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery.[7] The printing on the portrait says, "Hon. Sir W. V. Harcourt as Simon, Lord Harcourt, Lord Chancellor 1710. Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P. as a gentleman of Holland. Mrs Grenfell as Marie de Medici."[8]

Newspaper Reports[edit | edit source]

  • "Mr A. J. Balfour — Dutch costume of 1660, black broché tunic embroidered with jet, full breeches, black silk cloak and large hat of the period."[9]
  • He wore a "Dutch costume of 1660. Black broché tunic embroidered with jet; full breeches, black silk cloak, and large hat of the period."[10]:p. 8, Col. 1b
  • "Mr. Balfour was dressed in a Dutch costume of 1660, consisting of a black broché tunic, embroidered with jet, full breeches, black silk cloak, and large hat of the period."[11]:p. 3, Col. 4b
  • "Then you spotted Mr. Balfour with a sugar-loaf top hat, bobbing in and out between the trees."[12]:p. 5, Col. 2
  • He wore a "black broché tunic embroidered with jet; full breeches; black silk cloak, and large hat of the period."[13]:p. 34, Col. 2a
  • "The RIGHT HON. A. J. BALFOUR selected a Dutch costume of 1660, the black broché tunic embroidered with jet, worn with full breeches, black silk cloak, and the large hat of the period."[14]:Col. 2c

Miss Balfour[edit | edit source]

Miss Balfour is probably Alice Balfour as all of his other sisters were married, and she kept house for him.[1]

Demographics[edit | edit source]

  • Nationality: Scots-English

Family[edit | edit source]

  • James Maitland Balfour (5 January 1820 – 23 February 1856)[15]
  • Lady Blanche Mary Harriet Gascoyne-Cecil Balfour ( – 16 May 1872)[16]
  1. Evelyn Georgiana Mary Balfour Strutt ( – 7 April 1934)
  2. Eleanor Mildred Balfour Sidgwick ( – 10 February 1936)
  3. Alice Blanche Balfour ( – 12 June 1936)
  4. Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (25 July 1848 – 19 March 1930)
  5. Cecil Charles Balfour (22 October 1849 – 5 April 1881)
  6. Francis Maitland Balfour (10 November 1851 – 19 July 1882)
  7. Gerald William Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour (9 Apr 1853 – 14 January 1945)
  8. Colonel Eustace James Anthony Balfour (8 June 1854 – 14 February 1911)


  • Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (25 July 1848 – 19 March 1930)[5]

Notes and Questions[edit | edit source]

Footnotes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Alice Blanche Balfour." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  2. ↑ Cannadine, David. The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy. New York: Yale University Press, 1990.
  3. ↑ "Evelyn Georgiana Mary Balfour." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  4. ↑ "Eleanor Mildred Balfour." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Arthur Balfour". Wikipedia. 2020-10-18. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arthur_Balfour&oldid=984213070. 
  6. ↑ "Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  7. ↑ "Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball (1897): photogravures by Walker & Boutall after various photographers." 1899. National Portrait Gallery https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait-list.php?set=515.
  8. ↑ "Harcourt, Balfour, Grenfell." Diamond Jubilee Fancy Dress Ball. National Portrait Gallery https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw16538/Ethel-Anne-Priscilla-Ettie-Grenfell-ne-Fane-Lady-Desborough-as-Marie-de-Medici-Sir-William-Vernon-Harcourt-as-Simon-Lord-Harcourt-Lord-Chancellor-1710-Arthur-James-Balfour-1st-Earl-of-Balfour-as-a-gentleman-of-Holland.
  9. ↑ "Ball at Devonshire House." The Times Saturday 3 July 1897: 12, Cols. 1a–4c The Times Digital Archive. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.
  10. ↑ "Fancy Dress Ball at Devonshire House." Morning Post Saturday 3 July 1897: 7 [of 12], Col. 4a–8 Col. 2b. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000174/18970703/054/0007.
  11. ↑ “The Ball at Devonshire House. Magnificent Spectacle. Description of the Dresses.” London Evening Standard 3 July 1897 Saturday: 3 [of 12], Cols. 1a–5b [of 7]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000183/18970703/015/0004.
  12. ↑ “The Duchess’s Costume Ball.” Westminster Gazette 03 July 1897 Saturday: 5 [of 8], Cols. 1a–3b [of 3]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002947/18970703/035/0005.
  13. ↑ “The Duchess of Devonshire’s Ball.” The Gentlewoman 10 July 1897 Saturday: 32–42 [of 76], Cols. 1a–3c [of 3]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003340/18970710/155/0032.
  14. ↑ “Additional Costumes Worn at the Duchess of Devonshire’s Fancy Ball.” The Queen, The Lady’s Newspaper17 July 1897, Saturday: 63 [of 97 BNA; p. 138 on the print page], Col. 2a–3a [3 of 3 cols.]. British Newspaper Archive  https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0002627/18970717/283/0064.
  15. ↑ "James Maitland Balfour." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  16. ↑ "Lady Blanche Mary Harriet Gascoyne-Cecil." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
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