Who was John Buchan?
Novelist, Biographer, and Statesman.
Date and Place of Birth:
26th August 1875, Perth, Scotland.
Family Background:
Son of a free church Minister.
Education:
Hutcheson's Boys School. Glasgow University.
Brasenose College, Oxford.
Chronology/Biography of John
Buchan:
1901: Finished his
studies as a lawyer and was called to the Bar. Became private secretary
to Lord Milner who was the High Commissioner for South Africa.
1903: Returned to
Britain to become a director of the firm of Nelson's the publishing
house.
1909: He had begun
writing adventure stories in his spare time which culminated in
the publication of his first novel "Prester John.
1914: At the start
of the First World War he served on the staff at Army headquarters
a post he held until 1917.
1915: Publication
of his most famous thriller "The Thirty Nine Steps" featuring
his spy Richard Hannay which he wrote in Broadstairs, Kent whilst
recovering from an illness. Hannay was based on a young Army officer
Lieutenant Edmund Ironside whom he had met in South Africa during
the Boer War.
1917: Made Director
of Information.
1927: Elected Member
of Parliament for the Scottish Universities.
1928: Wrote a biographer
of Montrose.
1932: Wrote a biography
of Sir Walter Scott.
1935: Raised to
the Peerage as the First Baron Tweedsmuir as he was made Governor-General
of Canada.
1937: Made a Privy
Councillor and Chancellor of Edinburgh University.
Written Works:
- 1909:
"Prester John".
- 1922:"Huntingtower"
- 1915:
"The Thirty-Nine Steps".
- 1916:
"Greenmantle".
- 1917:
"Poems Scots and English".
- 1919:
"Mr Standfast".
- 1924:
"The Northern Muse", "The Three Hostages",
- 1927: "WitchWood"
- 1928:
"Montrose".
- 1932:
"Sir Walter Scott".
Marriage:
1907 To Susan Grosvenor.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
The British Library
Date and Place of Death:
11th February 1940, Montreal, Canada.
Age at Death:
64.
Site of Grave:
St. Thomas of Canterbury Churchyard, Elsfield,
Oxfordshire, England.
Further Information:
John Buchan Society
c/o Kenneth Hillier
Green Mairn Street
Kings Newton
Malsonne
Derby
DE73 1EX
