arrow arrow
Mr. Paul
James Balfour
(1774-1860)
Anne Mackintosh
(1786-1825)
John Paul
(1796-1873)
Margaret Balfour
(1807-1860)
James Balfour Paul
(1846-1931)

 

Family Links

Spouses/Children:
Helen Margaret Forman

James Balfour Paul 58,266,328

  • Born: 16 November 1846, Edinburgh
  • Christened: 29 December 1846, Edinburgh
  • Marriage: Helen Margaret Forman on 18 July 1872
  • Died: 15 September 1931, Edinburgh aged 84
picture

bullet  General Notes:

From The Times, September 16, 1931

We regret to announce that Sir James Balfour Paul, Lyon-King-of-Arms
from 1890 to the end of 1926, died yesterday in Edinburgh at the age
of 84.
He was a man of genial manners and fine presence, and displayed to
advantage, on State occasions, the magnificent costume of an office in
which he was the lineal successor of Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount,
1490-1555. In his quarters at the Register House he was ever
courteously at the service of all genuine investigators into
historical and antiquarian documents, while his pleasant house in
Heriot-row was on of the last remaining rallying-grounds of literary
society in Edinburgh. He was an ardent devotee of the national game
of curling.
Born in Edinburgh on November 16, 1846, he was the second son of the
Rev. John Paul, D.D., and Margaret, eldest daughter of James Balfour
of Pilrig. His grandmother, the daughter of a marriage celebrated in
1749, was daughter of the Rev. Sir William Moncrieff, the seventh
baronet of the creation of 1626. Educated at the High School and
University of Edinburgh, he was called to the Scottish Bar in 1870,
edited the Journal of Jurisprudence from 1873 to 1887, and was
Registrar of Friendly Societies for Scotland from 1879 to 1890. He
was Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and he
received the degree of L.L.D. from Edinburgh University in 1908. In
1900 he was knighted, became C.V.O. in 1911, and K.C.V.O. in 1926, and
was also Secretary of the Order of the Thistle and an Esquire and
afterwards Commander of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of
Jerusalem.
Sir James's publications included a "History of the Royal Company of
Archers", 1875; a "Handbook to the Parliament House", 1884; an
"Ordinary of Scottish Arms", 1893; "Memoirs and Remains of John M.
Gray", the gifted art critic and first Curator of the Scottish
National Portrait Gallery, two volumes, 1895; "Heraldry in Relation to
Scottish History and Art", 1900; besides many contributions to
Chambers Journal and other periodicals, on history and antiquities.
His principal literary work, however, lay in the department of
editing, for which his wide knowledge and scrupulous care especially
fitted him, and included the Record Series of "Registrum Magni
Sigilli", 1882-3; the "Accounts of the Lord Treasurer of Scotland",
Vols. II.-XI., 1900-1916; Douglas's "Scots Peerage", Vol. I., 1904,
with successive volumes up to Vol. IX., which appeared in 1914; and
also an edition for the Scottish History Society of the "Diary of the
Rev. George Ridpath, Minister of Stichill", whose "Border History of
England and Scotland" was published posthumously in 1776.
During his long reign as the King of Arms having jurisdiction over
Scotland, the Lord Lyon very greatly enhanced the status of Armory in
that kingdom, and succeeded in persuading innumerable cadets of
armorial families to comply with provisions of the Scots law anent
matriculation. He adopted a most ingenious scheme whereby differences
mau be uniformly graduated throughout any number of branches of a
family in successive generations. With the assistance of Mr. Graham
Johnston, the Herald Painter to his Court, and other heraldic artists,
he succeeded in infusing a new vigour into the art of his armorial
grants and strengthened the symbolical and historical value of the
achievements. Sir James's reign, which ended with his abdication from
the heraldic throne of the Lyon King, will long be celebrated for a
great and remarkable renascence of Scottish Heraldry. He tried two
very interesting heraldic cases in his Court, Sir Colin Macrae's claim
for supporters as Chief of the Clan Macrae, which was opposed by
Colonel Macrae-Gilstrap, and the action brought against Mrs. Fraser
Mackenzie by Colonel Stewart-Mackenzie, afterwards Lord Seaforth, in
connexion with the bearing of supporters in right of her father. In
the latter the Lyon's ruling was upheld on appeal by the House of
Lords.
Sir James Balfour Paul married in 1872 Helen, daughter of Mr. John
Nairne Forman, W.S., of Staffa, by whom he had three sons and one
daughter. Of these, the eldest, Cuthbert, predeceased his father in
1826. Lady Paul died in 1929.
The funeral service will be a St. Cuthbert's parish church, Edinburgh,
on Friday, and afterwards to Dean Cemetery.
Treasurer to the faculty of Advocates.

picture

bullet  Noted events in his life were:

1. He appeared on the census in 1851 in 13 Georges Square, Edinburgh.

2. Census UK 1891: 1891, 32 Great King Street, Edinburgh.

3. Knighthood: 1 January 1900.

4. Resided: 15 September 1931, 30 Herioit Row, Edinburgh. 13


picture

James married Helen Margaret Forman, daughter of John Nairne Forman and Jane Mitchell, on 18 July 1872. (Helen Margaret Forman was born on 21 February 1851 in Edinburgh, christened on 18 April 1851 in Edinburgh and died on 20 December 1929.)




Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List

This Web Site was Created 11 April 2016 with Legacy 7.5 from Millennia