James Balfour (died 1845)
Having made a fortune supplying the Royal Navy, he returned to Scotland to buy several landed estates, including Whittingehame in East Lothian where he built a classical mansion.
However, many of his descendants found fame and success, including his grandson Arthur Balfour,[1] who served as prime minister from 1902 to 1905.
[6] After studying book-keeping and accountancy in Edinburgh, Balfour went to Madras in March 1795 as a writer (junior clerk) for the British East India Company.
[13] In 1817, he purchased the 10,000-acre (4,000 ha; 16 sq mi) Whittingehame estate in Haddingtonshire from Colonel William Hay of Duns Castle,[2] which provided a net rental income of £11,000 per year (equivalent to £1,375,000 in 2025[3]).
[14] In the 1820s the Balfours employed the architect Robert Smirke, designer of the British Museum, to build a large classical mansion at Whittingehame,[1] along with a stable block and gate lodges.
[15] Established as a country gentleman, though known locally as "the nabob",[1][9] Balfour became a justice of the peace,[1] and in 1822 was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Haddingtonshire.
[16] In about 1823[17] or 1824 he paid £104,000[17] (equivalent to £11.6 million in 2025[3]) to buy from the 10th Earl of Leven[5] a large estate in his native Fife, including Balgonie Castle.
In November 1820, the death of Henry St Paul MP triggered a by-election for the borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed, where Balfour's father-in-law Lord Lauderdale had great influence.
[19] Balfour was also supported by Admiral Sir David Milne,[9] who had defeated St Paul at the general election in March 1820[20] but was unseated on petition in July.
His agents claimed that Balfour would have opposed her trial for alleged adultery, but he was portrayed as too close to Liverpool's Tory ministry to properly represent interests of the borough.
[22] At the 1831 general election, Balfour was drafted to stand instead in the county seat of Haddingtonshire, the area which included Whittingehame.
The sitting MP Lord John Hay had been an advocate of Parliamentary reform, a view which was supported by the county's voteless tenant farmers but opposed by the existing voters.
[2] At the general election in December 1832, with the franchise expanded under the Scottish Reform Act, Balfour was re-elected[28] but with a much narrower majority of 271 votes to 232.
[2] His property in Fife, including Balgonie Castle, was left to his second son Charles, while his daughters Mary and Anna had each been given a dowry of £40,000[2] (equivalent to £4.59 million in 2025[3]).
Arthur and Gerald lost a lot of money in a series of poor investments, particularly in their efforts to develop peat processing as a green alternative to coal-mining.
