Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameJames Balfour 
[36], [54, His own article], [35, Births of Balfours: FHL Film 1067773], [189, James Balfour's 1760 matriculation, Vol 1, Folio 125], [27, 19th Edn, Vol 1 (Scotland), pub 2001, Balfour article, p. 45]
[36], [54, His own article], [35, Births of Balfours: FHL Film 1067773], [189, James Balfour's 1760 matriculation, Vol 1, Folio 125], [27, 19th Edn, Vol 1 (Scotland), pub 2001, Balfour article, p. 45]Birth20 Aug 1705
Baptism31 Aug 1705, South Leith, Midlothian, Scotland
Death1795
GeneralOf Pilrig. Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh. Philosopher.
EducationEdinburgh univ.
FatherJames Balfour (<1681-1737)
MotherLouise Hamilton
Spouses
FatherSir John (or James) Elphinstone Bart (<1675-1732)
MotherMary Elliott (-1767)
Marriage1737 [317, Balfour article, p. 504]
ChildrenJames (or John) (1740-1814)
Notes for James Balfour
He also had a son James, a merchant of Leith, who had lots of issue (Burke's Colonial Gentry). It looks as if this James was the 1st son and the LDS Vital Records of births confirms this. [TFPL, Nov 2002: It now looks as if this James, merchant of Leith, was in fact Henry and James was and remained of Pilbrig...]
Arms Generally notes for James Balfour
From his matriculation of arms on the 15th February 1760, as recorded in the Lyon register (and extracted and certified by Elizabeth Read, Lyon Clerk and Keeper of the Record on 28th of January 2003) in Volume 1, folio 125:
James Balfour of Pilrig Esq. Advocate. Descended of the ancient family of Balfour of Monquhanie. Bears, Argent on a Cheveron indented Sable, between a Rose in Chief Gules, and a Saltire Azure in base, an ottars head erazed of the field. Crest: A dester hand holding an Olive branch proper. Motto: ADSIT DEUS.
James Balfour of Pilrig Esq. Advocate. Descended of the ancient family of Balfour of Monquhanie. Bears, Argent on a Cheveron indented Sable, between a Rose in Chief Gules, and a Saltire Azure in base, an ottars head erazed of the field. Crest: A dester hand holding an Olive branch proper. Motto: ADSIT DEUS.
DNB Main notes for James Balfour
Balfour, James 1705-1795
Name: Balfour, James
Dates: 1705-1795
Active Date: 1745
Gender: Male
Field of Interest: Scholarship and Languages
Occupation: Philosopher
Place of
Birth: Pilrig, near Edinburgh
Education: Edinburgh, Leyden
Sources: The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography;...
Contributor: W. G. B. [William Garden Blaikie]
Article
Balfour, James 1705-1795, philosopher, was born at Pilrig, near Edinburgh, in 1705, and, after studying at Edinburgh and at Leyden, was called to the Scottish bar. He held the offices of treasurer to the faculty of advocates and sheriff-substitute of the county of Edinburgh. In 1754 he was appointed to the chair of moral philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, and in 1764 transferred to that of the law of nature and nations. He was the author of three philosophical books: 1. ‘A Delineation of the Nature and Obligation of Morality, with Reflexions upon Mr. Hume's book entitled “An Inquiry concerning the Principles of Morals.”’ This book was published anonymously, the first edition in 1753, the second in 1763. 2. ‘Philosophical Essays,’ published anonymously in 1768. 3. ‘Philosophical Dissertations,’ published in 1782 under the author's name. These writings are marked by a calm tone of good sense and good feeling, but are not very powerful in thought. Dr. ICosh, in his work on the ‘Scottish Philosophy,’ says of him: ‘He sets out (in his “Delineation”) with the principle that private happiness must be the chief end and object of every man's pursuit; shows how the good of others affords the greatest happiness; and then, to sanction natural conscience, he calls in the authority of God, who must approve of what promotes the greatest happiness. This theory does not give morality a sufficiently deep foundation in the constitution of man on the character of God, and could not have stood against the assaults of Hume. / In his “Philosophical Essays” he wrote against Hume and Lord Kaimes, and in defence of active power and liberty. Like all active opponents of the new scepticism, he felt it necessary to oppose the favourite theory of Locke, that all our ideas are derived from sensation and reflexion.’
Balfour's mother was a Miss Hamilton, of Airdrie, great-grandaunt of the late Sir William Hamilton, Bart., professor of logic and metaphysics in the university of Edinburgh 1836-1856. His eldest sister married Gavin Hamilton, bookseller and publisher in Edinburgh (also, it is believed, a member of the Airdrie family), whose eldest son was Robert Hamilton, professor of mathematics in Marischal College and University, Aberdeen, author of a treatise on the national debt.
Sources
The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography; Anderson's Scottish Nation; ICosh's Scottish Philosophy; Letter to the writer from John M. Balfour-Melville, Esq., of Pilrig and Mount Melville, great-grandson of Professor Balfour.
Contributor: W. G. B.
published 1885
Name: Balfour, James
Dates: 1705-1795
Active Date: 1745
Gender: Male
Field of Interest: Scholarship and Languages
Occupation: Philosopher
Place of
Birth: Pilrig, near Edinburgh
Education: Edinburgh, Leyden
Sources: The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography;...
Contributor: W. G. B. [William Garden Blaikie]
Article
Balfour, James 1705-1795, philosopher, was born at Pilrig, near Edinburgh, in 1705, and, after studying at Edinburgh and at Leyden, was called to the Scottish bar. He held the offices of treasurer to the faculty of advocates and sheriff-substitute of the county of Edinburgh. In 1754 he was appointed to the chair of moral philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, and in 1764 transferred to that of the law of nature and nations. He was the author of three philosophical books: 1. ‘A Delineation of the Nature and Obligation of Morality, with Reflexions upon Mr. Hume's book entitled “An Inquiry concerning the Principles of Morals.”’ This book was published anonymously, the first edition in 1753, the second in 1763. 2. ‘Philosophical Essays,’ published anonymously in 1768. 3. ‘Philosophical Dissertations,’ published in 1782 under the author's name. These writings are marked by a calm tone of good sense and good feeling, but are not very powerful in thought. Dr. ICosh, in his work on the ‘Scottish Philosophy,’ says of him: ‘He sets out (in his “Delineation”) with the principle that private happiness must be the chief end and object of every man's pursuit; shows how the good of others affords the greatest happiness; and then, to sanction natural conscience, he calls in the authority of God, who must approve of what promotes the greatest happiness. This theory does not give morality a sufficiently deep foundation in the constitution of man on the character of God, and could not have stood against the assaults of Hume. / In his “Philosophical Essays” he wrote against Hume and Lord Kaimes, and in defence of active power and liberty. Like all active opponents of the new scepticism, he felt it necessary to oppose the favourite theory of Locke, that all our ideas are derived from sensation and reflexion.’
Balfour's mother was a Miss Hamilton, of Airdrie, great-grandaunt of the late Sir William Hamilton, Bart., professor of logic and metaphysics in the university of Edinburgh 1836-1856. His eldest sister married Gavin Hamilton, bookseller and publisher in Edinburgh (also, it is believed, a member of the Airdrie family), whose eldest son was Robert Hamilton, professor of mathematics in Marischal College and University, Aberdeen, author of a treatise on the national debt.
Sources
The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography; Anderson's Scottish Nation; ICosh's Scottish Philosophy; Letter to the writer from John M. Balfour-Melville, Esq., of Pilrig and Mount Melville, great-grandson of Professor Balfour.
Contributor: W. G. B.
published 1885