Émile Balète was born in February 1831, in Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France.

He was a French colonel wounded during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 and was decorated for his military deeds. In 1872, he settled in Quebec and, along with Charles-Albert Pfister and Joseph Haynes, founded the École Polytechnique de Montréal. Balète became a math professor and the first director of the school, serving from 1882 to 1908. A tourist region in Mauricie, Quebec, is named after him – Canton Balète.

He died in 1909 in Montreal, Quebec.

Michael William Balfe was born on May 5, 1808, in Dublin, Ireland, the son of a dancing master.

He was an Irish composer and singer. He studied the violin as a child and his first job was in the orchestra of London's Drury Lane Theatre. Possessing a fine baritone voice, he made his operatic debut in 1823 and came to prominence as Figaro in an 1827 Paris production of Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" under the composer's supervision. He then performed in Italy for eight years, culminating in an engagement at La Scala. Balfe's singing was praised, but his habit of "improving" old operas by adding his arias caused some resentment among audiences. His first opera, "I Rivaldi di se stessi," was performed in Palermo in 1829. After more successes in this field, Balfe returned to London in 1835, where he became the leading composer of English-language opera with "Siege of Rochelle" (1835), "The Maid of Artois" (1836) and "Catherine Grey" (1837). Balfe was known for his talent in creating melodies and understanding British musical preferences. He skillfully combined Italian tradition with English ballad style. Many of his arias became popular songs in their day. "The Bohemian Girl," his most successful opera, had a record 100-night run at Drury Lane and was performed in major cities worldwide, being the only one of his 28 operas that is still performed today. Balfe worked as a composer and singer until 1846 when he became the conductor of Her Majesty's Theatre. He also received commissions from La Scala and the Paris Opera and was honoured with France's Legion of Honor. In 1864, Balfe retired to his estate in Hertfordshire and lived there as a gentleman farmer. A cenotaph for the composer was placed in Westminster Abbey in 1882, and there is a stained-glass window dedicated to him in Dublin's St. Patrick's Cathedral. Balfe is celebrated for his opera "The Bohemian Girl" (1843), a colourful melodrama about a group of gypsies who raise a nobleman's daughter as their own. The soprano aria "I Dreamt I Dwelled in Marble Halls" from this opera has become a standard recital piece.

He died on October 20, 1870, in Ware, Hertfordshire, England.

Andrew Balfour was born in 1967 in Fisher River, Cree Nation, located north of Winnipeg.

He is a Cree composer and conductor. He was taken from his birth mother at six months old as part of the Sixties Scoop and adopted by a white settler family of Scottish descent. Balfour's adoptive father was a minister at All Saints’ Anglican Church in Winnipeg, and his mother was a violinist. His adoptive family would encourage his interest in music, which developed through choral singing and playing trumpet and trombone. Balfour attended Brandon University but later dropped out and struggled with alcohol dependence. In 1992, he was arrested for vandalism and placed in Milner Ridge Correctional Centre. After his time in prison, he began singing in an informal choir and in 1996 founded the vocal ensemble Dead of Winter (formerly Camerata Nova) and became its artistic director. This marked the beginning of his composition career. His works have been performed and broadcast locally, nationally, and internationally by renowned orchestras and choirs. Balfour is devoted to music education and outreach, especially in schools in low-income areas of Winnipeg and northern communities.

Arthur James Balfour was born on July 25, 1848, in Whittingehame, East Lothian, Scotland.

He was a British politician and philosopher. He was educated at Eaton College (1861–1866) and Trinity College, Cambridge (1866–1869). His political career started in 1874 when he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Hertford and later for Manchester East (1885-1906). In 1878, he became private secretary to his uncle Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister of the UK. After several political positions in Scotland and Ireland, Balfour, a great parliamentary debater, became a Leader of the House of Commons and First Lord of the Treasury in 1891. He served as Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905 and as Foreign Secretary from 1916 to 1919. He is perhaps best remembered for his World War I statement (the Balfour Declaration) expressing official British approval of Zionism. Balfour received the Order of Merit in 1916 and a Garter knighthood, followed by an earldom, in 1922. He was Chancellor of both Cambridge and Edinburgh universities, a Fellow of the Royal Society, president of the British Academy, the British Association and the Aristotelian Society, and co-founder of the Scots Philosophical Club. In 1924, he was appointed Hon. President of the East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists’ Society. He was the author of “A Defence of Philosophic Doubt” (1879).

He died unmarried on March 19, 1930, in Woking, Surrey, England.

John Hutton Balfour was born on September 15, 1808, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

He was a Scottish botanist. He studied at St. Andrews University and Edinburgh University, graduating with degrees of M.A. and then M.D. His original intention was to be ordained in the Church of Scotland, but instead, he started a medical practice in Edinburgh in 1834. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1835. In 1841, he became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow and then at the University of Edinburgh. With an interest in botany, Balfour was prominent in the foundation of both the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1836 and the Edinburgh Botanical Club in 1838. In 1862, he corresponded with Charles Darwin on botanical matters. He was also the 7th Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Her Majesty's Botanist in 1845. He held these posts until his retirement in 1879. He was nicknamed Woody Fibre.

He died on February 11, 1884, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

American singer and songwriter Ernest Roland Ball of the Tin Pan Alley era is best known for his song “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.” Born in Cleveland and trained at the Cleveland Conservatory, he made his way to New York where his song-writing career got underway in 1905 when state senator James J. Walker, later mayor of New York City, gave him some lyrics he had written and asked for music to go with them. By 1906 he had begun singing and accompanying singers at vaudeville venues like Hammerstein’s Victoria and The Palace. and collaborating with various composers and singers. From 1907 to 1910 he wrote numerous popular songs and several stage scores for Broadway musicals. One of his most successful collaborations was with tenor Chauncey Olcott, whose mother had been Irish. Ball and Olcott produced many Irish themed songs; “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” was originally created for the 1913 musical “Isle of Dreams” and “Mother Machree” came from “Barry of Ballantyne.” In 1911 he briefly collaborated in a double act with his second wife, Maude Lambert, a vaudeville entertainer. Ball wrote a mock ballad, “Saloon,” under the pseudonym “Roland E. Llab.” He was a charter member of the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers. In 1927, while his singing group “Ernie Ball and His Gang” was on tour in Santa Ana, California, at the Yost Theater, he died in his dressing room just after leaving the stage. He was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. Some of his piano playing is preserved on piano roll recordings he made for the Vocalstyle, an Ohio-based company.

Dr. James Moores Ball was born on September 4, 1862, in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa.

He obtained his medical degree from Iowa State University in 1884 and pursued further post-graduate studies in New York and Europe. From 1894 to 1910, he served as the Professor of Ophthalmology at the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons. Following this, he assumed the roles of Dean and Professor of Ophthalmology at the American Medical College. Dr. Ball was an esteemed member of the St. Louis Medical Society and had a keen interest in medical history, which is evident through his extensive collection of books, anatomical specimens, drawings, casts, and ophthalmic instruments. In 1920, he donated his collection of ophthalmic instruments to the Army Medical Museum (now the National Museum of Health & Medicine). His book collection was presented to the St. Louis Medical Society in 1928, forming the basis of the Society’s rare book holdings. Subsequently, in 1989, the Society transferred the Ball collection to the Bernard Becker Medical Library. A prolific author, Dr. Ball contributed significantly to the fields of medicine and history, with notable works such as "Andreas Vesalius, the reformer of anatomy" (1910), "Modern Ophthalmology" (published in six editions between 1904 and 1927), and "The Sack-em’ Up Men" (1928), a study of the practice of body snatching.

He died on March 1, 1929, in St. Louis City, Missouri.