Nisbet Balfour Explained

Nisbet Balfour
Parliament:United Kingdom
Constituency Mp:Wigtown Burghs
Termend:1796
Termstart:1790
Constituency Mp1:Arundel
Termstart1:1897
Termend1:1802
Death Date: (Aged 79–80)
Allegiance:Great Britain

General Nisbet Balfour (1743, Dunbog10 October 1823, Dunbog) was a British soldier in the American Revolutionary War and later a Scottish Member of Parliament (MP) in the British Parliament.

He was born in Dunbog, in the county of Fife, Scotland in 1743. Joining the 4th Regiment of Foot as ensign in 1761, he rose to become one of Cornwallis' most trusted officers during the American Revolution. He fought and was severely injured in the Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed's Hill) and also participated in battles in Elizabethtown, Brandywine, and Germantown, and was made Lieutenant-Colonel (of the 23rd Regiment of Foot) in 1778. He accompanied Cornwallis to Charleston where he was sometimes commandant.[1] He was promoted to major general in 1793, Colonel of both the 93rd Foot (1793) (an earlier regiment than the Sutherland Highlanders raised in 1799) and the 39th Foot in 1794 and served in the war with France.

He was elected to Parliament in 1790 as the MP for Wigtown Burghs, sitting until 1796 and again in 1797 for Arundel, sitting until 1802.

He died in October 1823 in Dunbog, Scotland.

Family

Descendants and kin include the Stewarts of St Fort, Fife, Scotland, as well as John Stewart of Urrard, son of Robert Stewart of Fincastle and the Athol Stewarts. Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan. Reference is made in the 1842, 1853, and 1863 editions of Sir Bernard Burke's[2] A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, Volume 2. In the 1863 edition on page 1437 mentions one William Campbell and states that he assumed the additional surnames of Stewart and Balfour to conform with the terms of the will of his maternal uncle, Lieut. General Nisbet Balfour.

References

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Notes and References

  1. Book: Journal of Alexander Chesney: a South Carolina Loyalist. 25 April 2010. Chesney. Alexander. Siebert. Wilbur Henry. 1921.
  2. Book: A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, Volume 2, 1863 edition, page 1437. 25 April 2010. Burke. Bernard. 1863.