Balfour, John Hutton (1808–1884)

Scottish botanist who was an inspired teacher and introduced microscopy into undergraduate botany courses.

Balfour was born in Edinburgh, the son of an army surgeon and educated at the Edinburgh High School and St Andrews University. He intended to be ordained into the Church of Scotland, but gave this up and graduated with an MD from Edinburgh University 1832. After continuing his medical studies in Paris he set up his own practice in Edinburgh 1834. He had an abiding love of botany however, and helped to set up the Botany Society of Edinburgh 1836 and the Edinburgh Botany Club 1838. In 1841 he gave up medicine in order to become the professor of botany at Glasgow University, and in 1845 he was made professor of botany at Edinburgh and the Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, as well as the Queen's Botanist for Scotland. He was an inspired teacher and, while professor at Edinburgh, led his students on regular botanical excursions to every part of Scotland and established the use of light microscopes as teaching aids within the department. He wrote several textbooks, but did not carry out much original research.