Henry de Baliol

Sir Henry de Baliol of Cavers (died 1246) was Chamberlain of Scotland.

Henry was a son of Eustace de Balliol by his wife Perronelle. He married Lora, daughter of William de Valognes, lord of Panmure, and sister of Isabel and Christina de Valognes. He obtained the chamberlainship which had been held by his father-in-law.

Although invited by King John of England to take his side shortly before the time of the Magna Carta, it is probable that he, like his sovereign Alexander II, joined the party of the barons. He is mentioned in the Scottish records in the years between 1223 and 1244, and the appointment of Sir John Maxwell of Caerlaverock, who appears as Chamberlain in 1231, must either have been temporary, or Baliol must have retained the title after demitting the office, which George Crawfurd supposes him to have done in 1231. In 1234 he succeeded, in right of his wife as coheiress, along with her sister Christina and brother-in-law Peter de Maule, to the English fiefs of the Valognes family, vacant by the death of Christian, countess of Essex; it was a rich inheritance, situated in six shires.

By Lora he had four known children:

• Guy (d. August 4, 1265) who died in the Battle of Evesham
• Sir Alexander of Cavers (d. before June 1311), who also served as Chamberlain of Scotland
• William "le Scot" (c1251-c1313), who was the progenitor of the Scot/Scott family of Nettlestead and Scot's Hall in Kent
• only daughter Constance, who married a member of a Fishburn family in England (perhaps the Fishburn family of County Durham)

In 1241 he attended Henry III of England to the Gascon War, and, dying in 1246, was buried at Melrose.