Lord Balfour of Burleigh

Lordship of Balfour of Burleigh

Quarterly, 1st & 4th: Argent, on a chevron sable, an otter's head erased of the first (Balfour of that Ilk); 2nd & 3rd: Or, a saltire and a chief gules, the latter charged with a mullet argent (Bruce)
Creation date 16 July 1607
Monarch James VI
Peerage Peerage of Scotland
First holder Sir Michael Balfour
Present holder Robert Bruce, 8th Lord Balfour of Burleigh
Heir presumptive Hon. Victoria Bruce-Winkler, Mistress of Burleigh
Remainder to Heirs general[1]
Subsidiary titles Master of Burleigh
Seat(s) Brucefield House
Former seat(s) Burleigh Castle
Armorial motto Balfour: Omne solum forti patria ("Every country is a brave man's homeland")
Bruce: Fuimus ("We have been)[2]
Burleigh Castle, the former seat of the Balfour family.

Lord Balfour of Burleigh, in the County of Kinross, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1607 for Sir Michael Balfour.[2]

He was succeeded by his daughter, Margaret, his only child. She married Robert Arnot, who assumed the surname of Balfour and sat as Lord Balfour of Burleigh in the Scottish Parliament in right of his wife. Their son, the third Lord, fought with the Covenanters at the Battle of Drumclog.

His grandson, the fifth Lord, was tried and convicted of the murder of schoolmaster Henry Stenhouse at Inverkeithing in 1709. He was sentenced to death in 1710 but escaped to freedom by dressing in his sister's clothes. He was primarily known as Master of Burleigh, the lordship's subsidiary title, as he never took his seat in Parliament when his father died in 1713. He took part in the Jacobite rebellion in 1715 and was attainted for his role. He died childless in 1757.[2][3]

The lordship had been created by charter, a copy of which exists only in the family archives. The original charter did not specify right of succession.[4] Robert Bruce (1795–1864), MP for Clackmannanshire, asserted his right to sit in the House of Lords as Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Lord Kilwinning. However, Walter Francis Balfour of Fernie, a male-line descendant of the second Lord, opposed Balfour on the grounds that he was the proper heir as heir male of the body. Robert Bruce died in 1864 before the case was decided, but his wife continued the case on behalf of their underage son, Alexander Hugh Bruce.[5] On 21 July 1868, the House of Lords ruled in favour of the Bruces, determining that the original lordship was created with the remainder to heirs general (as evidenced by it being inherited by the original lord's daughter). On 19 March 1869, the attainder was reversed by Act of Parliament.[1][3]

Alexander Hugh Bruce, the 6th Lord Balfour of Burleigh but suo jure 10th Lord, was the great-great-grandson of Hon. Mary Balfour (d. 1758), daughter of the fourth Lord, and her husband Brigadier-General Alexander Bruce.[1] Since 1869, the lordship has been held by the Bruce family. Lord Balfour of Burleigh was a Conservative politician and sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish Representative Peer from 1876 to 1921 and served Secretary of State for Scotland between 1895 and 1903. His second son, the seventh Lord, was a Scottish Representative Peer from 1922 to 1963. Since 1967, the title has been held by the latter's son, the eighth Lord.[2]

Another member of the Balfour family was James Balfour, 1st Baron Balfour of Glenawley (in the Peerage of Ireland). He was the younger brother of the first Lord Balfour of Burleigh.[2]

The family seat now is Brucefield House, near Clackmannan. The original family seat was Burleigh Castle, near Kinross, which is now in ruins.

Lords Balfour of Burleigh (1607)

Margaret Balfour (died 1769), suo jure 6th Lady Balfour of Burleigh, daughter of 4th Lord of Burleigh[6]
Robert Bruce, 8th of Kennet (1718–1785), suo jure 7th Lord Balfour of Burleigh, nephew of 5th Lord and titular 6th Baroness
Alexander Bruce, 9th of Kennet (c. 1755–1808), suo jure 8th Lord Balfour of Burleigh
Robert Bruce, 10th of Kennet (1795–1864), suo jure 9th Lord Balfour of Burleigh

The heir presumptive is the present holder's daughter the Hon. Victoria Bruce-Winkler, Mistress of Burleigh (b. 1973).
The heir presumptive's heir presumptive is her daughter Laetitia Bruce-Winkler (b. 2007).

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Balfour Paul 1904, p. 554
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. pp. 233–134. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  3. 1 2 Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1878. p. 429. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  4. ↑ Balfour Paul, James (1904). The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: D. Douglas. p. 539. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  5. ↑ Journals of the House of Lords. H.M. Stationery Office. 1865. p. 385. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Balfour Paul 1904, p. 553
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