Blayney Townley Balfour JP (1799 – 5 September 1882)[1][2] was Lieutenant Governor of the Bahamas from 1833 to 1835.
Blayney Townley Balfour was born in Ireland in 1799, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford.
[3] During this period he oversaw the implementation of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which came into effect on 1 August 1834.
In 1833 and 1834 he deployed troops multiple times to Exuma to "restore discipline" among Lord Rolle's slaves (later 'apprentices') there.
[4] However, the transition in August 1834 was otherwise "quiet and orderly",[4] perhaps due in part to the fact that a system of indentured apprenticeships (understood by many including Balfour himself to benefit the holders more than the apprentices themselves)[5] had been employed in the Bahamas since 1811,[6] as well as to the threat of force[4] In 1843 he married Elizabeth Catherine Reynell, with whom he had four children.