{{Short description|British historian (1904-1976)}} {{For|Sir Patrick Balfour, 8th baronet|Balfour baronets}} {{Use British English|date=January 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{infobox person | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Kinross | honorific_suffix = | image = Lord Kinross Allan Warren.jpg | caption = 1975 portrait | birth_name = John Patrick Douglas Balfour | birth_date = {{birthdate|1904|06|24|df=yes}} | birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | death_date = {{dda|1976|06|04|1904|06|24|df=yes}} | death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | parents = Patrick Balfour, 2nd Baron Kinross<br/>Caroline Johnstone-Douglas | spouse = {{marriage|Angela Mary Culme-Seymour|1938|1942|reason=div}} | relatives = Arthur Johnstone-Douglas (grandfather) }}
'''John Patrick Douglas Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross''' (25 June 1904 – 4 June 1976) was a Scottish historian and writer noted for his biography of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and other works on Islamic history.<ref name="Ancestors">{{cite web|url=http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/a/l/Gavin-R-Dallmeyer/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0103.html |title=Ancestors of Gavin R.J. Dallmeyer: Patrick Balfour |publisher=Familytreemaker.genealogy.com |date=1904-06-25 |access-date=2013-07-20}}</ref>
==Early life and education== [[File:Railway Club at Oxford.jpg|thumb|Railway Club at Oxford, conceived by John Sutro, dominated by Harold Acton. Left to right, back: Henry Yorke, Roy Harrod, Henry Weymouth, David Plunket Greene, Harry Stavordale, Brian Howard; middle row: Michael Rosse, John Sutro, Hugh Lygon, Harold Acton, Bryan Guinness, Patrick Balfour, Mark Ogilvie-Grant, Johnny Drury-Lowe; front: porters.]]
John Patrick Douglas Balfour was born in 1904 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the eldest son of Patrick Balfour, 2nd Baron Kinross and Caroline Elsie Johnstone-Douglas (1879–1969).<ref name="Burke's1924"/>
His paternal grandparents were the Lord Justice General John Balfour, 1st Baron Kinross and, his first wife, Lilias Oswald Mackenzie (a daughter of Donald Mackenzie, Lord Mackenzie). His maternal grandparents were Jane Maitland Hathorn-Stewart and Arthur Johnstone-Douglas, a member of the extended Marquess of Queensberry family.<ref name="Burke's1924">{{cite book |title=Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage |date=1924 |publisher=Burke's Peerage Limited. |page=1320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWUDL1kARTgC |access-date=10 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
He was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford,<ref>Winchester College Register 1915-1960 pp 77-78.</ref> where he was a member of the Railway Club.<ref name="Lancaster">{{cite book|last1=Lancaster|first1=Marie-Jaqueline|title=Brian Howard: Portrait of a Failure|date=2005|publisher=Timewell Press|page=122|isbn=9781857252118|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7IVRYLb2wcAC&pg=PA122|access-date=20 January 2018}}</ref> He then became a journalist and writer.
==Career== A prominent historian, Lord Kinross was noted for his biography of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and works on Islamic history.<ref name="Ancestors"/>
During the Second World War he served with the Royal Air Force, and from 1944 to 1947 was First Secretary at the British Embassy at Cairo, Egypt.<ref>Winchester College Record</ref>
==Personal life== thumb|Baron Kinross monument, Dean Cemetery In 1938, he married Angela Mary Culme-Seymour (1912–2012), daughter of George Culme-Seymour and Janet (née Orr-Ewing) and former wife of the artist John Spencer-Churchill. Having been separated by World War II when Balfour was posted to Cairo, she started a five-year relationship with Major Robert Hewer-Hewitt with whom she had two sons, Mark and Johnny. Patrick and Angela divorced in 1942.<ref name=Telegraph>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9060216/Angela-Culme-Seymour.html The Daily Telegraph: Angela Culme-Seymour]. 3 February 2012.</ref>
Despite the brief marriage, Lord Kinross was homosexual; he had no issue and was succeeded by his brother David Andrew Balfour, 4th Baron Kinross.<ref>On Balfour's homosexuality see Candida Lycett Green, ed. and introduction, ''John Betjeman: Letters'' [2 vols, London: Methuen, 1994, reprinted 2006], i, 44).</ref>
He is buried in "Lords Row" in Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, with all previous ancestors of the title Baron Kinross.{{cn|date=May 2026}}
==In popular culture== In 1974 John Betjeman wrote the poem ''For Patrick: aetat LXX'' published in his ''A Nip in the Air'', with a footnote giving Balfour's name and title.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Betjeman |first1=John |title=A Nip in the Air |date=1974 |publisher=John Murray |location=Albemarle St, London |isbn=0719531748 |pages=60–61}}</ref>
== Books ==
*''Society Racket: A Critical Survey of Modern Social Life'' (1933) *''The Ruthless Innocent'' (1949) Supposedly based on the character of Angela Culme-Seymour *''The Orphaned Realm: Journeys in Cyprus'' (1951) *''Within the Taurus: A Journey in Asiatic Turkey'' (1954) *''Portrait of Greece'' (1956) With photographs in colour by Dimitri *''Europa Minor: Journeys in Coastal Turkey'' (1956) *''The Kindred Spirit: A History of Gin and of the House of Booth'' (1959) *''The Innocents at Home'' (1959) An account of the author's travels in the United States of America *''Atatürk: The Rebirth of a Nation'' (1964) reprinted 2001 ** (US ed.) ''Atatürk: A Biography of Mustafa Kemal, Father of Modern Turkey'' (1965) *''Portrait of Egypt'' (1966) *''The Windsor Years: The Life of Edward, as Prince of Wales, King, and Duke of Windsor'' (1967) *''Between Two Seas: The Creation of the Suez Canal'' (1968) * ''Hagia Sophia'', (1971)<ref name=artblart>{{cite web | title=European photographic research tour exhibition: ‘Ara Güler: Two Archives, One Selection: Tracing Ara Güler's Footsteps in Istanbul’ at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art|first=Marcus |last=Bunyan |date= 10 November 2019 | website=Art Blart _ art and cultural memory archive | url=https://artblart.com/tag/ara-guler-museum/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260206151726/https://artblart.com/tag/ara-guler-museum/ | archive-date=6 February 2026 | url-status=live | access-date=25 May 2026}}</ref> published by ''Newsweek''<ref>{{cite web | title=Hagia Sophia : Kinross, Patrick Balfour, Baron, 1904-1976 | website=Internet Archive | url=https://archive.org/details/hagiasophia0000kinr | access-date=25 May 2026}} (See p. 179 for photo credits.)</ref> *''Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire'' (1977) {{ISBN|0-688-08093-6}} *''Hagia Sophia: A History of Constantinople'' (1979) {{ISBN|9780882250151}}
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp66330/john-patrick-douglas-balfour-3rd-baron-kinross John Patrick Douglas Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross (1904-1976), Historian, biographer and journalist: Sitter in 8 portraits], National Portrait Gallery
{{s-start}} {{s-reg|uk}} {{s-bef|before=Patrick Balfour}} {{s-ttl|title=Baron Kinross|years=1939–1976}} {{s-aft|after=David Balfour}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinross, Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron of}} Category:1904 births Category:1976 deaths Category:Nobility from Edinburgh Category:Writers from Edinburgh Patrick Category:20th-century Scottish historians Category:20th-century Scottish LGBTQ people Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford 3 Category:British diplomats Category:British historians of Islam Category:British Islamic studies scholars Category:Burials at the Dean Cemetery Category:LGBTQ peers Category:People educated at Winchester College Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Category:Scholars of Ottoman history Category:Scottish biographers Category:Scottish gay writers Category:Scottish travel writers Category:20th-century British travel writers