Family / house

Balfour of Whittingehame; Balfour of Balbirnie; Strathconan; Balgonie; Newton Don; Earls of Balfour

Family / cadet branch

Whittingehame and Strathconan

Armiger / bearer

The Balfour family of Whittingehame descended from James Balfour of Balbirnie

Entity type

cadet_branch

Social rank / class

landed_gentry

Heraldic authority

Scottish heraldic tradition; later Balfour peerage records

Record basis

ancient_usage

Issued / first recorded

1817

Until / superseded

1922

Historical period

Nineteenth-century Scottish landed gentry before the Balfour peerage

Blazon

Argent, on a chevron engrailed Sable between three mullets Sable as many otters' heads erased of the first.

Plain-English description

A silver shield bears a black engrailed chevron between three black stars; on the chevron are three silver otter's heads, shown erased.

Tinctures

Argent; Sable

Charges / ordinaries

Chevron engrailed; Three mullets; Three otters' heads erased

Crest

A palm tree Proper.

Motto

VIRTUS AD ÆTHERA TENDIT.

Difference / variant

The Whittingehame family used the Balbirnie-type otter-head and mullet design, with the palm-tree crest and motto later appearing in the Balfour earldom. The branch designation is territorial and genealogical rather than a separately located independent grant.

Source reference

Landed Families of Britain and Ireland, Balfour of Whittingehame

Source

Open source

Genealogical context

Father

John Ramsay Balfour of Balbirnie

Mother

Mary Gordon, daughter of James Gordon of Ellon

Spouse(s)

Lady Eleanor Maitland, daughter of James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale

Children / next generation

James Maitland Balfour; Charles Balfour; Mary Balfour; Anna Balfour

Notes / sources