Thomas Graham Balfour

Thomas Graham Balfour (18 March 1813 – 17 January 1891) was a Scottish physician noted for his work with medical statistics, and a member of Florence Nightingale's inner circle.

Biography

Balfour was born in Edinburgh on 18 March 1813. He was son of John Balfour, a merchant of Leith, and his wife Helen, daughter of Thomas Buchanan of Ardoch. He was the great-grandson of James Balfour, professor of moral philosophy at Edinburgh in 1754, and of Robert Whytt, a celebrated medical writer and professor of physiology at Edinburgh. He graduated MD at Edinburgh in 1834; FRS, 1859; Surgeon-General, Honorary Physician to Queen Victoria and compiler of the first four volumes of Statistics of the British Army.^[1] According to Francis de Chaumont, the publication of this statistical work "marked an epoch in hygiene".^[2]

The Statistics of the British Army were reputed to be the most accurate and complete of their sort throughout Europe.^[3]

From 1840 to 1848, Balfour served as assistant surgeon in the Grenadier Guards. In 1857 he was appointed secretary to Sidney Herbert's committee on the sanitary state of the army, and in 1859 he became deputy inspector-general in charge of the new statistical branch of the army medical department, a post which he held for fourteen years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 3 June 1858, and in 1860 a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.^[1]

He along with Dr John Sutherland were secretaries to the Sanitary Section of the International Statistical Congress in 1860, which was attended by Adolphe Quetelet, and to which Florence Nightingale submitted a paper.

In 1887 he was appointed honorary physician to the queen. He was placed on half-pay as surgeon-general in 1876, and in his forty years of service had done much to improve the sanitary condition of the forces. He was President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1888 to 1890 shortly after it had changed from the Statistical Society of London.^[4] He married in 1856 Georgina, daughter of George Prentice of Armagh, and had one son, Sir Graham Balfour. He died at Coombe Lodge, Wimbledon, on 17 January 1891.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Moore 1901.
^ De Chaumont, F. S. B. F. (9 June 1883). "An Address on the Origin and Development of the Science of Hygiene: Being the Inaugural Lecture at the Parkes Museum". BMJ. 1 (1171): 1104–1106. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.1171.1104. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 2372588. PMID 20750626. (See p. 1106.)
^ Reznick, Jeffrey S. (2004). "Balfour, Thomas Graham (1813–1891), physician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1197. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Balfour, Thomas Graham (19 November 1889). "The Opening Address of Dr. T. Graham Balfour, F.R.S., &c, Honorary Physician to Her Majesty the Queen, President of the Royal Statistical Society". Royal Statistical Society. 52 (4): 517–534. doi:10.2307/2979100. JSTOR 2979100.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Moore, Norman (1901). "Balfour, Thomas Graham". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[FOOTNOTEMoore1901-1] Moore 1901.

[2] De Chaumont, F. S. B. F. (9 June 1883). "An Address on the Origin and Development of the Science of Hygiene: Being the Inaugural Lecture at the Parkes Museum". BMJ. 1 (1171): 1104–1106. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.1171.1104. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 2372588. PMID 20750626. (See p. 1106.)

[3] Reznick, Jeffrey S. (2004). "Balfour, Thomas Graham (1813–1891), physician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1197. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[4] Balfour, Thomas Graham (19 November 1889). "The Opening Address of Dr. T. Graham Balfour, F.R.S., &c, Honorary Physician to Her Majesty the Queen, President of the Royal Statistical Society". Royal Statistical Society. 52 (4): 517–534. doi:10.2307/2979100. JSTOR 2979100.

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v t e Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Ernest Charles Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 Robert Nicholas Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–2014 John Pullinger 2014–2016 Peter Diggle 2017–2018 David Spiegelhalter 2019– Deborah Ashby
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