James Maitland Balfour, of Whittinghame , was born on the 5 January 1820, son of James Balfour and Lady Eleanor Maitland, a daughter of the eighth Earl of Lauderdale. On 15 August 1843 he married the Lady Blanche Mary Harriet Gascoyne-Cecil, a daughter of the second Marquess of Salisbury. (Her brother Robert later became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom). They had 8 children, 3 girls and 5 boys:

• Evelyn Georgiana Mary Balfour, who married the third Lord Rayleigh;
• Eleanor Mildred Balfour, who married Henry Sidgwick and was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge;
• Alice Blanche Balfour;
• Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour, a Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom;
• Cecil Charles Balfour;
• Francis Maitland Balfour, a Professor of Animal Morphology at the University of Cambridge;
• Gerald William Balfour, 2nd Earl Balfour , who served as Chief Secretary for Ireland and President of the Board of Trade, and
• Colonel Eustace James Anthony Balfour, an ADC to King Edward VII.

James Maitland Balfour served as Member of Parliament for Haddington from 1841 until 1847, and died on the 23 February 1856 in Funchal, Madeira.

He was also Major Commandant of the East Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry, who erected the Balfour Monument in his honour overlooking Traprain Law, 2½ miles (4 km) south west of East Linton in Scotland. Sources include: http://www.thepeerage.com