Blanche Dugdale

Blanche Elizabeth Campbell "Baffy" Dugdale (née Balfour) was born on 23 May 1880 at 32 Addison Road in Holland Park, London. She was the eldest of five children of Eustace James Anthony Balfour, an architect, and Lady Frances Campbell. Her father, Eustace Balfour, was the youngest brother of Sir Arthur Balfour, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Her mother, Lady Frances Campbell, was the daughter of George Campbell, the 8th Duke of Argyll. Dugdale was educated at home and did not receive formal schooling.

She was known by the nickname "Baffy," a childhood derivation of her surname, Balfour.

In her professional career, Dugdale worked within the Naval Intelligence Department. She was involved with the League of Nations Union from its founding in 1920 until the organization ceased activities. During this period, she held various roles and was one of the British delegates to the League Assembly in 1932. She also supported the historian Lewis Namier, especially during the writing of his work "The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III," published in 1929. In her writings, she signed articles as Blanche E. C. Dugdale, but colloquially she was known as Baffy Dugdale.

Chaim Weizmann, a prominent Zionist leader, described her as "an ardent, lifelong friend of Zionism." In 1936, Dugdale authored a two-volume biography titled "Arthur James Balfour," which detailed the life of her uncle, the Prime Minister Arthur Balfour.

On 18 November 1902, Dugdale married Edgar Trevelyan Stratford Dugdale at St Mary Abbots Church in Kensington. Edgar Dugdale was a Lloyd's of London underwriter and "name." He was the second son of William Stratford Dugdale of Merevale Hall, Atherstone, Warwickshire. The couple resided at 1 Roland Gardens in South Kensington, London. It was Dugdale who suggested that Edgar undertake an abridged translation of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf."

The couple had two children, Frances and Michael.

Baffy Dugdale passed away on 16 May 1948 at Kilkerran House near Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland. Her death occurred one day after she learned of the establishment of the State of Israel. She was at Kilkerran House, the residence of her daughter and son-in-law, Sir James Fergusson, the 8th Baronet.