Arthur Balfour

Arthur Balfour

Scottish Politician

Moustache type: Jay's

Born: 25 7 1848 (East Lothian, Scotland)
Died: 19 3 1930 (Woking, Surrey, England, aged 81, heart failure)

In early 1878 the Foreign Secretary, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, The Marquess of Salisbury, chose Arthur Balfour as his Parliamentary Private Secretary. In 1885, with Salisbury now Prime Minister, Balfour was promoted to President of the Local Government Board. In 1886 Salisbury gave him a cabinet post as Secretary for Scotland, and in 1887 he chose him as Chief Secretary for Ireland. Salisbury was Balfour’s mother’s brother. The phrase “Bob’s your uncle” was born.

Balfour was initially considered more philosopher than politician but his reputation as political lightweight diminished with his tough incumbency as Irish Secretary, when he earned the nickname “Bloody Balfour.”

In 1902 Balfour succeeded his Uncle Bob as Prime Minister. His premiership lasted three years but it was as Foreign Secretary in the coalition government in the First World War that he left his final mark. The Balfour Declaration espoused a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Balfour stands proud as the first of Britain’s eight moustachioed Prime Ministers.