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Born in 1854 as “Leslie Balfour” – he assumed the name Melville in later life – Leslie Balfour-Melville WS is undoubtedly the greatest all-round sportsman in Scottish history. It is his misfortune that his extraordinary achievements, both on the field of play and later as an administrator of dedication and talent, predate our own time to the extent that they do. The aesthetics of sport and sporting life have undergone transformation since then, and the amateur world from which Balfour-Melville hailed is seen now, without justification, as quaint and exclusive.

But consider the following. Still in his teens, in 1871, Balfour-Melville played rugby for Scotland against England. In 1879, he won Scotland’s tennis championship. For three decades, he was considered the best batsman in Scottish cricket, playing for his country 18 times in 36 years and recording 46 career centuries. He was Scottish Billiards Champion, and was a famous curler. Yet these achievements, unmatched since, are among his minor accolades. His greatest claim to fame, appropriately for a Writer to the Signet, comes from the Scottish national game of golf.

As a golfer, he won his first award, the Gold Medal at St. Andrews, in 1874: in total he would eventually hold 31 medals from the Royal and Ancient Club, the Jubilee Vase, and a further 15 medals from the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. His greatest hour came with his victory in the British Amateur Championship in 1895, a tournament which remains to this day one of the two great world amateur golf competitions. He had been losing finalist in 1889, and was a losing semi-finalist twice.

He served as Captain of the Royal and Ancient Club in 1906 – and also served as Captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. He would serve as served as President of both the Scottish Rugby Union and Scottish Cricket Union.

Balfour-Melville enjoyed a successful legal career and held for many years as Clerk to the Commissioners of Income-tax in Edinburgh. It is unlikely that the modern world would sustain such predominance now in both legal and sporting fields at once, so there is unlikely to be another Balfour-Melville. He is not forgotten, for all that, and in 2002 he was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.