Thomas Balfour
{{Short description|Scottish politician}}
{{about||the Scottish physician|Thomas Graham Balfour|the Scottish physician and botanist|Thomas Alexander Goldie Balfour}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
File:Doune Terrace, Edinburgh 003.jpg
File:The grave of Thomas Balfour MP, St John's Churchyard, Edinburgh.JPG
Thomas Balfour of Elwick FRSE (2 April 1810 – 30 March 1838)[http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/fellowship/fells_indexp1.pdf?q=fellows Royal Society of Edinburgh - Index of Fellows] was a Scottish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1835 to 1837. His brother was David Balfour (1811-1887) of Balfour FRSE.
Family
Balfour was the son of Captain William Balfour RN of Trenabie, Orkney. He became an advocate in 1831 and was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 16 March 1834. His proposer was Thomas Stewart Traill.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=978-0-902198-84-5|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf}}
Balfour was elected Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland on 9 February 1835. He held the seat until 1837.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090810231452/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ocommons.htm Leigh Rayment House of Commons constituencies beginning with O]}} He was a Conservative.{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Henry Stooks|title=The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections|date=1842|publisher=Simpkin, Marshall & Company|pages=207–208|edition=Second|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQgHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA207}}
In 1837 he was residing at 9 Doune Terrace on the Moray Estate.Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1837
Balfour died unmarried at the age of 28. He is buried in the south-west corner of St Johns Churchyard in Edinburgh.
Trivia
His grandfather Col Thomas Balfour of Elwick was portrayed by Sir Henry Raeburn.{{cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/sir-henry-raeburn/portrait-of-colonel-thomas-balfour-of-elwick-nukgYVWtnhv73Aol4lFdSg2|title=PORTRAIT OF COLONEL THOMAS BALFOUR OF ELWICK|website=Artnet|accessdate=25 September 2019}}
References
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A 24-page booklet - "Thomas Balfour M.P. for Orkney and Shetland, 1835-1837" - was published in 1978 by Kirkwall Grammar School.
External links
- {{hansard-contribs | mr-thomas-balfour | Thomas Balfour }}
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{{s-bef | before = George Traill }}
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| title = Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland
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{{s-aft | after = Frederick Dundas }}
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Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Orkney and Shetland
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Burials at St John's, Edinburgh
Category:Scottish Tory MPs (pre-1912)
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