This month I am featuring the Balfour surname as part of my series on Scottish last names. It is Scottish and it appears in places such as Orkney, Aberdeen-shire, Angus and Fife. The name is most closely associated with the Balfours of Burleigh Castle in Kinross-shire (now Perth & Kinross).
The Meaning of the Balfour Surname
The Balfour surname is a place-name. This means it came from the name of a place where people lived. The word joins the Gaelic baile (meaning “farm” or “settlement”) with pòr or pùir (meaning “pasture” or “grass”). So, Balfour means “the farm by the pasture.”
The First Known Appearance of the Balfour Surname
- The first known record of a Balfour surname appears around 1196, when Michael de Balfour received a charter from King William the Lion, with the grant dated at Forfar.
- The Balfour family later held lands in Fife, particularly in the parish of Markinch and along the valley of the Orr.
- By the fifteenth century, Balfours were important landholders in Kinross-shire. Their principal residence was Burleigh Castle near Milnathort.
Burleigh Castle and the Balfour Family
- The Balfour family built and improved Burleigh Castle and held it for more than two centuries.
- It was a typical laird’s house: cellar at ground level, hall on the first floor, and bedchambers above.
- Sir James Balfour (c.1525–1583) became a favourite of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was later implicated in the plot to murder her husband, Lord Darnley, and after changing sides he betrayed political secrets to Mary’s opponents. He experienced spells in prison and a period of exile in France before returning to Scotland.
- In 1716, following support for the 1715 Jacobite rising, the estate were forfeited and Burleigh was lost.
A Dramatic Story
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Robert Balfour (the Master of Burleigh) fell in love with a woman considered beneath his rank. Before being sent abroad to forget her, he swore that if she married in his absence he would kill her husband. She later married Henry Stenhouse, the schoolmaster of Inverkeithing.
When Balfour returned and learned of the marriage, he went to Inverkeithing, called Stenhouse out, and shot him on 9 April 1707. He was tried and sentenced to death, but in 1710 escaped from the Edinburgh Tolbooth disguised in his sister’s clothes. He later joined the 1715 Jacobite rising. After that, the family’s estates and honours were forfeited.
The Balfour Title Returns
In 1869, the Balfour title was restored by Parliament (Bruce’s Restitution Act 1869, Private Act, 32 & 33 Vict., c.11; Royal Assent 19 March 1869). It passed via the Bruce family, who were connected through marriage. The title Lord Balfour of Burleigh is still held by Bruce descendants.
Burleigh Castle Today
Burleigh Castle is a roofless ruin with a distinctive corner-turret. It is managed by Historic Environment Scotland.
You can access the grounds from the road. Don’t worry there is a wee bit of space to park your car.
Variations of the Balfour Surname
The Balfour surname is usually spelled in its modern form, but older records may show:
- Balfoure – relatively common in sixteenth–seventeenth-century sources
- Balfor – less frequent, appears in some parish and sasine records.
- Balfur – occasional phonetic form.
- Ballfour/Ballfourr – very rare; found in a few manuscripts.
Clan Balfour
The family is Lowland rather than a traditional Highland clan. A modern Clan Balfour Society exists and shows the coat arms by Balfour families.
Balfour Tartan
There are several tartans registered for the surname. Here is one of them from the Register of Tartans:
Some Famous People with the Balfour Surname
- Arthur James Balfour (1848–1930) – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; associated with the 1917 Balfour Declaration
- Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour (1853–1922) – Scottish botanist; Professor of Botany at Edinburgh and Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden
- Evelyn (Eve) Balfour (1898–1990) – niece of Arthur; pioneer of UK organic farming, co-founder of the Soil Association; author of The Living Soil (1943).
- Clara Lucas Balfour (1808–1878) – writer, lecturer and advocate of women’s education.
- Katherine Little, nee Balfour – From Kinross, Katherine is an amazing mathematics teacher at a local Scottish high school.
Conclusion
The name Balfour means “farm by the pasture” and can be traced back over 800 years. The Balfours contributed to Scottish history from medieval charters to Jacobite forfeiture and nineteenth-century restoration.
Are you a Balfour?
Thank you for joining me on this journey into another Scottish surname.
If you would like me to feature a particular surname from your family tree, please let me know – I would be happy to explore its origins and meaning in a future article.
Good luck with your research.
Until my next post, haste ye back.
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Image credits: Sarah Smith and the Register of Tartans
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