Sir James Balfour of Denmilne and Kinnaird, 1st Baronet

Sir James Balfour, c. 1640

The heraldic achievement of the Office of the Lord Lyon King of Arms

Sir James Balfour of Denmilne and Kinnaid, 1st Baronet (c. 1600 – c. 1658), of Perth and Kinross, Scotland, was a Scottish annalist and antiquary.^[1]

Life

Sir James Balfour was well acquainted with Sir William Segar and with William Dugdale, to whose Monasticon he contributed. He was knighted by King Charles I in 1630, was made Lord Lyon King of Arms in the same year, and in 1633 baronet of Kinnaird. He was removed from his office of king-at-arms by Oliver Cromwell and died in 1657.^[1]

Some of his numerous works are preserved in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, together with his correspondence, from which rich collection James Haig published Balfour's Annales of Scotland in four volumes (1824–1825). James Maidment also extracted papers from the collection in order to publish them.^[1]

His arms were Or, on a chevron sable between three trefoils slipped vert an otter's head erased of the field.

References

1. Chisholm 1911.

Attribution

 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Balfour, Sir James, Bart. (antiquary)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. which in turn cites:

• Sibbald, Robert (1699) Memoria Balfouriana; sive, Historia rerum, pro literis promovendis, gestarum a ... fratribus Balfouriis ... Jacobo ... et ... Andrea. Authore R.S.. Edinburgi: Typis Hæredum Andreæ Anderson

External links

• Balfour, James (c. 1650), Maidment, James, ed., Ancient Heraldic and Antiquarian Tracts, Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson (published 1837)

• Balfour, James (1652), Haig, James, ed., The Annales of Scotland (1057 – 1603) I, Edinburgh (published 1824)
• Balfour, James (1652), Haig, James, ed., The Annales of Scotland (1604 – 1640) II, Edinburgh (published 1824)
• Balfour, James (1652), Haig, James, ed., The Annales of Scotland (1641 – 1649) III, Edinburgh (published 1824)
• Balfour, James (1652), Haig, James, ed., The Annales of Scotland (1650 – 1652); King Charles' Visit 1633 IV, Edinburgh (published 1824)