1857 to 1859, member of Military Finance Commission of India from 1859 to 1860 and president of the Finance Committee and chairman of the Military. Finance Department of India from 1860 to 1862. Political achievements In 1865 he was promoted to major-general and was a member of Royal Commission on Recruiting for the Army from 1866 to 1867, and assistant to the Controller-in-Chief at the War Office from 1868 to 1871. He was awarded KCB in 1870 Balfour was elected Member of Parliament for Kincardineshire at a by-election in 1872. He held the seat until 1892. Balfour was promoted to lieutenant general in 1874, and to general in 1877 when he was colonel-commandant of the Royal Artillery. He was a Deputy Lieutenant and J.P. for Kincardineshire. Other activities Balfour was an active member of the Royal Geographical Society where he became an ardent supporter of the theory that anthropogenic causes, particularly deforestation, had caused desiccation and other climate changes in India and other parts of the British Empire. His brother Edward Balfour also supported this view and worked towards conservation measures for forests. Marriage and death Balfour married in 1848 Charlotte Isabella Hume, daughter of Joseph Hume M.P. Balfour died at the age of 84. References External links 1809 births 1894 deaths Scottish Liberal Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 Royal Artillery officers Deputy Lieutenants of Kincardineshire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath George