Marie Clothilde Balfour

This article is about the British folklorist and writer; for the British artist with a similar name, see Mary Balfour Herbert; for the Irish writer and playwright with a similar name, see Mary E. Balfour.
Marie Clothilde Balfour
Born(1862-10-20)20 October 1862
Edinburgh
DiedSeptember 1931(1931-09-00) (aged 68)
London
OccupationsWriter, folklorist
FatherJames Balfour
RelativesRobert Louis Stevenson (cousin); George William Balfour (uncle and father-in-law); Thomas Stevenson (uncle)

Marie Clothilde Balfour (20 October 1862 – September 1931) was a British writer, translator, and folklorist. She wrote three novels, stories, and plays; translated poetry and a French Revolution-era memoir; collected folk stories and songs; and edited two volumes of letters from her aunt.

Early life and education

Balfour was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of James Balfour, a noted engineer, and Christina Simson Balfour (later Nicholson). Writer Robert Louis Stevenson was her first cousin. She spent her early years in New Zealand while her father was working there; when he died in 1869, she returned to Scotland with her mother.[1]

Publications

Balfour wrote three novels, translated a French Revolution-era memoir, and edited two volumes of letters from her aunt, Margaret Isabella Balfour Stevenson, sent during her travels with her son in Polynesia.[2][3] She also wrote plays and stories, and collected folklore from Northumberland and Lincolnshire.[4] "From time to time doubts have been expressed about the authenticity of the tales that Marie Clothilde Balfour said she had collected," notes one scholar,[5] because the tales she published were especially strange, and she certainly added her own literary flourishes.[6][7][8]

  • "Legends of the Lincolnshire Cars" (Folk-Lore, Vol. II, 1891, a series of articles)[9][10][11]
  • White Sand (1896, novel)[12]
  • Maris Stella (1896, novel)[13]
  • "Sub Tegmine Fagi" (The Yellow Book, Volume X, July 1896, short story)[14]
  • The Fall of the Sparrow (1897, novel)[15]
  • "Saint Joseph and Mary, from a French folk song" (The Yellow Book, Volume XII, January 1897, poem translated by Balfour)[16]
  • From Saranac to the Marquesas and beyond; being letters written by Mrs. M. I. Stevenson during 1887–88, to her sister, Jane Whyte Balfour (1903, edited by Balfour)[17]
  • Examples of printed folk-lore concerning Northumberland (1904, collected folksongs)[18]
  • Memoirs of Mlle des Écherolles, being sidelights on the Reign of Terror (1904, translated by Balfour)[19]
  • Mrs. M. I. Stevenson, Letters from Samoa, 1891–1895 (1906, edited by Balfour)[20]

Personal life

Balfour married her first cousin, physician James Craig Balfour; they had a daughter, Marie Margaret Melville Balfour, who also became a writer.[21] Balfour's husband died in 1907, and she died in London in 1931.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Bassett, Troy J. "Author: Marie Clothilde Balfour", At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837—1901, 15 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Stevenson's Mother; Some of Her Letters Edited by Mary Clothilde Balfour". The New York Times. 16 January 1904. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  3. ^ Graham, Lesley (2 January 2020). "From Scotland to Sāmoa: Margaret Isabella Balfour Stevenson in Polynesia". Studies in Travel Writing. 24 (1): 20–34. doi:10.1080/13645145.2020.1803598. ISSN 1364-5145. S2CID 225428257.
  4. ^ Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve, eds. (2003). "Balfour, Marie Clothilde". A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198607663. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  5. ^ Behrend, Michael. "Are the legends authentic?" Republications.
  6. ^ Haase, Donald (2007). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales [3 Volumes]. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-313-04947-7.
  7. ^ Roper, Jonathan (2019), Teverson, Andrew (ed.), "No Fairy Tales of their Own?", The Fairy Tale World (1st ed.), Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 402–414, doi:10.4324/9781315108407-34, ISBN 978-1-315-10840-7, S2CID 186658601, retrieved 26 February 2023{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  8. ^ Duggan, Anne E.; Haase, Donald; Callow, Helen J. (2016). Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the World, 2nd Edition [4 volumes]: Traditions and Texts from around the World. ABC-CLIO. p. 299. ISBN 978-1-61069-254-0.
  9. ^ Balfour, M. C. (1 June 1891). "Legends of the Cars". Folklore. 2 (2): 145–170. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1891.9720054. ISSN 0015-587X.
  10. ^ Balfour, M. C. (1 September 1891). "Legends of the Lincolnshire Cars.—Part II". Folklore. 2 (3): 257–283. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1891.9720066. ISSN 0015-587X.
  11. ^ Balfour, M. C. (1 December 1891). "Legends of the Lincolnshire Cars. — Part III". Folklore. 2 (4): 401–418. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1891.9720076. ISSN 0015-587X.
  12. ^ Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1896). White sand: The story of a dreamer and his dream. New York: The Merriam company.
  13. ^ Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1896). Maris Stella. The keynotes series; v. 27. Boston: Roberts Bros.; etc., etc.
  14. ^ Balfour, Marie Clothilde. "Sub Tegmine Fagi" The Yellow Book 10 (July 1896): 199–213.
  15. ^ Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1897). The fall of the sparrow. The Hudson library,no. 25. New York, London: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
  16. ^ "Balfour, Marie Clothilde". Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  17. ^ Stevenson, Margaret Isabella (Balfour); Balfour, Jane Whyte; Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1903). From Saranac to the Marquesas and beyond. London: Methuen & co.
  18. ^ Balfour, Marie Clothilde; Thomas, Northcote Whitridge (1904). Examples of printed folk-lore concerning Northumberland. Publications of the Folk-lore Society ;53. London: Nutt.
  19. ^ DesÉcherolles, Alexandrine Etiennette Marie Charlotte; Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1904). Memoirs of Mlle. des Écherolles, being sidelights on the reign of terror. The crown library. London, New York: J. Lane.
  20. ^ Stevenson, Margaret Isabella Balfour; Balfour, Jane Whyte; Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1906). Letters from Samoa, 1891–1895. London: Methuen.
  21. ^ "Margaret Balfour". Mazed Tales. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
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