Michael Leonard Graham Balfour (22 November 1908 — 16 September 1995) was an English historian and civil servant. He was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, the son of Sir Graham Balfour. He was educated at Rugby School and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, where he graduated with a first in history. He first visited Germany in 1930, where he became a friend of Helmuth James von Moltke. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Balfour worked at the Ministry of Information and the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office (the cover name for the Political Warfare Executive). In 1944 he joined the Psychological Warfare Division of the

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allies of World War II, Allied forces in northwest Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. US General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the ...

and after the war he became Director of Public Relations and Information Services, Control Commission, in the British Zone of

Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...

. He was Chief Information Officer at the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

from 1947 to 1964. He was then professor of European History at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

from 1966 to 1974. In 1934 he married Grizel Wilson (younger sister of his Balliol friend, the diplomat Duncan Wilson, and of philosopher

Mary Warnock Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, (née Wilson; 14 April 1924 – 20 March 2019) was an English philosopher of ethics, morality, philosophy of education, education, and philosophy of mind, mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best ...

) and they had three daughters. Balfour died in the

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

town of Witney at age 86.

Works

*''States and Mind: Reflections on Their Interaction in History'' (1953). *''Four-Power Control in Germany and Austria 1945-46'' (1956). *''The Kaiser and His Times'' (1964). *''West Germany: A Contemporary History'' (1968). *''Helmuth von Moltke. A Leader against Hitler'' (1972) (co-author Julian Frisby). *''Propaganda in War 1939-45: Organizations, Policies and Publics in Britain and Germany'' (1979). *''The Adversaries: America, Russia and the Open World, 1941 – 1962'' (1981). *''Britain and Joseph Chamberlain'' (1985). *''Withstanding Hitler in Germany 1933-45'' (1988).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balfour, Michael 1908 births 1995 deaths English civil servants Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Oxford Academics of the University of East Anglia 20th-century English historians People educated at Rugby School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford