text: james balfour ( died 1845 ) james balfour ( c . 1775 – 19 april 1845 ) was a scottish nabob who became a landowner and politician . the son of a prosperous and influential gentry descent , he became a trader in india . 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 . balfour became a tory member of parliament ( mp ) from 1826 to 1834 , but never achieved ministerial office . however , many of his descendants found fame and success , including his grandson arthur balfour , who served as prime minister from 1902 to 1905 . at his death , balfour 's estates in scotland alone were estimated to be worth over £ 1 million ( equivalent to £ 89 . 2 million in 2016 ) . family and early life balfour was born in about 1775 . he was the second son of john balfour ( 1739 – 1813 ) , an advocate who owned balbirnie house , near the town of glenrothes in fife . his elder brother robert balfour , who inherited balbirnie , became a lieutenant - general in the british army . his ancestor george balfour had purchased balbirnie in the late 16th or early 17th century , and by the late 18th century its land included profitable mines in the fife coalfield . balfours had fought with robert the bruce at the battle of bannockburn in 1314 , and a pedigree written under the authority of the lord lyon king of arms traced james balfour 's descent in a direct line from king robert ii , son - in - law of robert the bruce . career india 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 . he held several posts in the following years , before being sent back to britain after a disciplinary issue . balfour returned to india in 1802 , where he became a merchant in partnership with james baker . his breakthrough came in 1806 , when the partners obtained the contract with the victualling commissioners of the royal navy to supply their needs throughout the east indies . the contract had been held since 1796 by the hon. basil cochrane , who had built his own flour mills and bakeries in madras . cochrane returned to england in 1806 due to ill - health , and had intended to appoint balfour and baker as his agents . however , before leaving , cochrane was notified that the navy was reviewing his accounts dating back to 1794 , and that the navy had lost much of the paperwork . he then returned to england permanently to settle the accounts , which took until 1820 . instead of engaging agents , cochrane passed the contract to balfour and baker , who held it until at least 1815 . at some point the partnership was dissolved , and the contract held by balfour alone . when he left india , he had accumulated a fortune of £ 300 , 000 ( equivalent to £ 24 . 6 million in 2016 ) . the indian business did not end with balfour 's return home . it was run on his behalf by agents , and within a few decades the family 's assets had grown ten - fold to £ 3 million ( equivalent to £ 246 million in 2016 ) . scotland on his return to scotland in 1815 , balfour married lady eleanor maitland ( 1790 – 1869 ) , daughter of the tory politician james maitland , 8th earl of lauderdale . they had five children , one of whom died in a fire in infancy . within two years of their marriage , balfour had bought two large county estates . the first was a sporting estate with shooting lodge in the highlands , at strathconan in ross - shire . 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 , which provided a net rental income of £ 11 , 000 per year ( equivalent to £ 981 , 000 in 2016 ) . he also bought a town house in london , no. 3 grosvenor square . in the 1820s the balfours employed the architect robert smirke , designer of the british museum , to build a large classical mansion at whittingehame , along with a stable block and gate lodges . they equipped their home with french furniture and sèvres china . built of pale stone , the house was expanded and altered in 1827 to the designs of william burn , which were not entirely successful . colin mcwilliam and christopher wilson describe them as having changed " a dry composition into a boring one " . they then rebuilt the local church , and created a new model village to the north - west of the old one . built in about 1840 of red sandstone , it consists of a row of cottages and a school . established as a country gentleman , though known locally as " the nabob " , balfour became a justice of the peace , and in 1822 was appointed as a deputy lieutenant of haddingtonshire . in about 1823 or 1824 he paid £ 104 , 000 ( equivalent to £ 8 . 25 million in 2016 ) to buy from the 10th earl of leven a large estate in his native fife , including balgonie castle . adjacent to his native balbirnie , the balgonie estate included coal mines which worked seams described as " inexhaustible " and iron workings . parliament 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 . balfour was also supported by admiral sir david milne , who had defeated st paul at the general election in march 1820 but was unseated on petition in july . however , lauderdale was disliked for his opposition to the popular queen caroline , which became a significant issue in the campaign . 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 . after four days of polling , balfour lost by 9 votes ( 374 — 363 ) to the whig baronet sir francis blake . a further vacancy occurred in berwick in 1822 , but balfour did not contest the seat . instead , he turned his attentions to the anstruther burghs , a set of five burghs which were located only 15 miles from his newly purchased estate at balgonie in fife . at the 1826 general election he won the support of three burghs of pittenweem , anstruther easter and crail , whereas the sitting mp and lord advocate of scotland sir william rae won only anstruther wester and . with three out of five votes balfour was declared elected , and a petition lodged by rae was rejected in march 1827 . in 1829 , several groups of his constituents submitted petitions against the roman catholic relief bill . balfour presented all the petitions to parliament , but in april he voted with the majority in favour of the bill . balfour was opposed at the 1830 general election by robert marsham , the warden of merton college , oxford . however , he won the seat , taking three of the four boroughs remaining after 's disenfranchisement in 1829 . 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 . lord john 's position looked untenable , so balfour was drafted by lord lauderdale and hay 's brother lord tweeddale . describing himself as an opponent of the current reform proposals , but a supporter of a " wise and prudent amendment to the representative system " , he won the seat by a margin of 40 votes to the 11 of his opponent sir david baird , bt . however , a crowd of non - voting residents of haddington shouted down his attempts to make a speech of thanks . the new parliament was dominated by the reform bills , and in the last parliament of the house of commons balfour voted against them at most opportunities . at the general election in december 1832 , with the franchise expanded under the scottish reform act , balfour was re - elected but with a much narrower majority of 271 votes to 232 . his health had been declining , and he cited that as his reason for retiring at the dissolution of parliament in december 1834 . at the general election in january 1835 , the haddingtonshire seat was won by the whig robert ferguson . death and legacy balfour died at whittingehame in april 1845 , aged about 70 . he was survived by his wife , two sons , and two daughters . one daughter had died in infancy . james maitland balfour ( 1820 – 56 ) , mp for haddington burghs 1841 – 47 , father of five sons and three daughters charles balfour ( 1823 – 72 ) , who married adelaide barrington , daughter and 8th child of the 6th viscount barrington . mary balfour ( 1817 – 93 ) , a noted watercolour artist who married henry arthur herbert , owner of the estate in county kerry , and chief secretary for ireland 1857 – 58 anna balfour ( 1825 – 57 ) , who married lord augustus fitzroy , later 7th duke of grafton on his death , balfour 's estate was valued at over £ 1 million . his widow eleanor ( who survived him by 24 years ) was left a legacy of £ 31 , 000 and a life annuity of £ 3 , 760 . the rest was divided between his children . the estates at whittingehame and strathconan were left to his eldest son , along with a house in grosvenor square , london . 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 ( equivalent to £ 3 . 28 million in 2016 ) . until the reform act in 1832 , political power in britain had been dominated for centuries by a land - owning oligarchy , and for another century they shared power with the rising bourgeoisie . the balfour family straddled both groups . james balfour 's new wealth brought new vigour to the ancient family , with many of his grandchildren and great - grandchildren achieving notability . they include : james maitland balfour 's children : arthur balfour , the prime minister of the united kingdom from 1902 to 1905 eleanor mildred sidgwick ( 1845 – 1936 ) , principal of newnham college , cambridge alice blanche balfour ( 1850 – 1936 ) , amateur entomologist francis maitland balfour ( 1851 – 1882 ) , one of the greatest biologists of his day gerald balfour , 2nd earl of balfour ( 1853 – 1945 ) , a cabinet minister from 1895 to 1905 . his daughter lady eve balfour ( 1899 – 1990 ) was an early advocate of organic farming , and co - founder of the soil association colonel eustace james anthony balfour ( 1854 – 1911 ) , an architect who served as adc to king edward vii . charles balfour 's son charles barrington balfour became an army officer and an mp . one of his sons was knighted for his work as a diplomat mary 's son henry arthur herbert , was mp for kerry from 1866 to 1880 two of anna 's sons became dukes of grafton as with many other estate houses in scotland , balfour family ownership of whittingehame house ended in the 20th century . 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 . in the 1930s , death duties forced the mothballing of the house and sale of its contents . the building was leased for various purposes before being sold in 1963 to become a residential school , and has since been converted into apartments . the older whittingehame tower has been restored and remains the residence of the earls of balfour , descendants of james balfour .