End of an era at famous law firm
It was the end of an era for Edinburgh law firm Balfour + Manson at the end of 2021 as Ian Balfour, the last of his family in the business, finally retired at the age of 89.
Balfour Family Holidays since 1983
The last cine-film under ‘Balfour Family Holidays 1952-82’ is ‘1982 Brittany, France’. This section of the website picks up our holidays from then on. With advancing years, it is easier to remember them online than to rummage through diaries and photograph albums. They were happy years, when travel was (for us) exciting, memorable and (looking back) seemingly effortless. Read More
Party Litigant’s Expenses – A 2021 Update
1. Introduction
The previous heading, ‘Taxation of Judicial Accounts’, gave some suggestions at section 15 about preparing a Judicial Account for a Party Litigant. It may be helpful to update the position of Party Litigants in Scotland; England has different rules. These notes are written to help (I hope) both those preparing a Party Litigant’s Account and those opposing one.
Glbert, the first Balfour on Westray
The first Balfour to live on Westray was Gilbert (1521-76).
A short précis of his life is on this website at the immediately preceding heading here:
‘Balfours on Westray, Orkney Islands’, pages 5 and 6.
A search for his name on Google brings up dozens of references.
Charlotte Chapel and the Red Arrows
The Red Arrows, the aircraft known for their aerobatics and red, white and blue trails, were to fly over Edinburgh in the morning of 15 August 2020, to mark the 75th anniversary of V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day), the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, bringing the war to an end. The flypast had to be postponed for low cloud and poor visibility, but was held a few days later and a photographer snapped this spectacular picture of the aircraft passing over Charlotte Chapel.
Ian’s mother’s autograph album
In Ian’s mother’s youth, and in his own teenage years, autograph albums were popular – asking friends and relations to contribute a page with a drawing, poem, personal message or other memento. When Ian was asked to contribute to a friend’s album, he often reproduced the first entry in his own album: ‘It’s not the gale, but the set of the sail, which tells us the way to go.’ Ian discovered, with incredulity, when compiling this note at the age of 87, that the author of that couplet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, was also the author of the poem, The Valley of Fear, which is the fifth entry here from Isobel Ingram’s album.
Ten pages are copied here from her album, from 1913 (when she was 17) to 1920:
- Five about life during the Great War, 1914 to 1918, and
- Five, chronologically from 1913 to 1920, by evangelists and Bible teachers.
Charlotte Chapel archives indexed
When Charlotte Chapel moved from Rose Street to Shandwick Place in 2016, no space was available for 50 boxes of archived material, covering the history of the Chapel from 1808 to 2009. The boxes were therefore deposited with the City of Edinburgh archives at their Murrayfield depot.
There was no opportunity to make a detailed index of the boxes before they were deposited. This had not been a problem in Rose Street, because they were available on open shelves, with the contents listed on the side of the box. To examine a subject referred to across different boxes, for example Minutes of Meetings, the monthly Record or the weekly Sunday Bulletins, boxes could be taken off the shelf, rearranged, and the contents read chronologically.
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Congregational Life in Twelve Central Belt Baptist churches, 1918 to 1939
In 1979, David Edwards in Glasgow sent a questionnaire to churches, an early initiative by the (still flourishing) Scottish Baptist History Project. He asked 64 questions about ‘the life of the churches in the (inter-war) years from 1918 to 1939’. I was given twelve completed questionnaires while preparing a chapter for the 1988 monograph, David Bebbington (ed.), Baptists in Scotland: a History. I came across them during a recent spring-clean and thought it worth preparing this Paper.
The Ten Commandments today – or are there Eleven?
I’ve mentioned elsewhere that when I was asked to speak at Christian meetings and to choose a subject, I often suggested ‘Common Grace and Saving Grace’ [1]. If I was asked back, and again asked for a subject, it was often ‘The Ten Commandments today – or are there Eleven?’ My talk went as follows – footnotes and additional information have been added for this version.
The Balfour Family Tree: Jamaica
Supplement to ‘The Balfour Family Tree’
George Balfour of Chalmersquoy, married Barbara Rendall in 1731. From their son Thomas of Uttersquoy comes the Balfours who are now in Edinburgh.
From their younger son, Murdoch of Chalmersquoy comes another branch of the family, whose identity was provided to Ian in 2018 by Murdoch’s great great granddaughter, Jennifer Hicks in Jamaica.