Balfour, Arthur James (1848-1930), Earl of Balfour, served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from July 1902 to December 1905. He was a leader of the Conservative Party for over 20 years. Two famous declarations bear his name. One in 1917 dealt with British support for Palestine as a national home of the Jews (see Balfour Declaration ). The other was the report of the 1926 Imperial Conference, which defined the British Commonwealth of Nations as a free association of countries equal in rank. Balfour replaced his uncle, the Marquess of Salisbury, as prime minister.
Balfour served as foreign secretary in the coalition war cabinet of David Lloyd George from 1916 to 1919. Balfour was lord president of the council from 1919 to 1922 and from 1925 to 1929. The lord president is the officer who presides over the Privy Council, which advises the king or queen (see Privy Council ). In 1922, Balfour was knighted and became a member of the House of Lords.
Balfour was born on July 25, 1848, on his family’s estate, Whittinghame (now Whittingehame), near Edinburgh in Scotland. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He entered Parliament in 1874 as representative for Hertford in the House of Commons. Balfour served as the first secretary for Scotland in 1886, chief secretary for Ireland from 1887 to 1891, and first lord of the treasury from 1895 to 1902. He never married. Balfour died on March 19, 1930, in Woking, Surrey.
