BALNAVES, HENRY (1 512 ?-1579), Scottish politician and reformer, was educated at St. Andrews, and afterwards at Cologne, where he adopted Protestant views. In 1538 he was appointed a lord of session, and in Jan. i543 the regent Arran made him secretary of state. In the following November, when the regent went over to the priestly party, Balnaves was imprisoned in Blackness castle, and after his release by Hertford in May became a paid agent of the English Government. He took no part in the murder of Beaton, but helped to defend the castle of St. Andrews, and on its surrender was taken prisoner to Rouen. Dur ing his exile Balnaves wrote The Confession of Faith, which was found, with a preface by Knox, among his papers and published at Edinburgh in 1584.
In 1557 he returned to Scotland, and took an active part in the rising of 1559. In 1563 he was restored to his office as lord of the session, and four years later was one of Bothwell's judges for the murder of Darnley. He died in 1579 at Edinburgh.