Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour

The Right Honourable The Earl of Balfour PC
Gerald Balfour in an 1899 portrait by George Frederic Watts.
President of the Board of Trade
In office 12 November 1900 – 14 March 1905
Monarch	Victoria Edward VII
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	Charles Ritchie
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Salisbury
President of the Local Government Board
In office 14 March 1905 – 4 December 1905
Monarch	Edward VII
Prime Minister	Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	Walter Long
Succeeded by	John Burns
Personal details
Born	9 April 1853 (1853-04-09)
Died	14 January 1945 (1945-01-15) (aged 91)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Lady Betty Bulwer-Lytton (1867-1942)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Gerald William Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour PC (9 April 1853 – 14 January 1945), known as Gerald Balfour or Rt Hon G. W. Balfour until 1930, was a senior British Conservative politician who became a peer on the death of his brother, former prime minister Arthur Balfour, in 1930.

Balfour was the fourth son of James Maitland Balfour, of Whittingehame, Haddingtonshire, and Lady Blanche Cecil, daughter of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. Two Prime Ministers were immediate relations: Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, his elder brother, and Lord Salisbury, his uncle. He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained 1st Class Honours in the Classical Tripos.

Balfour sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Leeds Central from 1885 to 1906. During this time he was a member of Commission on Labour, and private secretary to his brother, Arthur Balfour, when he was president of the Local Government Board from 1885 to 1886. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1895 to 1900, as president of the Board of Trade from 1900 to 1905 and as president of the Local Government Board in 1905. He was admitted to the Privy Council of Ireland in 1895, and to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1905.