Thomas Buchanan (Liberal politician)

Thomas Buchanan

Thomas Ryburn Buchanan PC FRSE (1846 – 7 April 1911) was a Scottish Liberal politician and bibliophile.

Background and education

He was born in Glasgow the son of John Buchanan of Dowanhill. His brother was the eminent chemist and explorer John Young Buchanan (1844-1925).[1]

He was educated at Sherborne School and Balliol College, Oxford. He later became a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar.

Political career

In 1880 Buchanan unsuccessfully contested Haddington in the 1880 general election but was successfully returned to Parliament for Edinburgh in an 1881 by-election. This constituency was abolished in 1885 and he was elected for the newly created constituency of Edinburgh West as a Liberal Unionist. However, in 1888 Buchanan announced that he supported William Ewart Gladstone's Home Rule policy. He resigned his seat and was elected by a narrow majority as a Gladstonian and Home Ruler the same year.

Buchanan lost the Edinburgh West seat in 1892 but returned to the House of Commons in December the same year when he was elected to represent Aberdeenshire East in a by-election. He lost this seat in the 1900 general election and remained out of the House of Commons for the next three years. However, in February 1903 he was returned as the member for Perthshire East, a seat he held until 1910. When the Liberals came to power in December 1905 he was appointed Financial Secretary to the War Office by Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, a post he retained until April 1908. The latter month he was sworn of the Privy Council and made Under-Secretary of State for India by the new Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith. He remained in this post until June 1909.

Personal life

Buchanan married Emily Octavia Bolitho on the 15th of August 1888 at Madron, Penzance, Cornwall. He was a noted collector of books and manuscripts. Some of his collections were donated by his widow to the University of Edinburgh and the Bodleian Library, Oxford, after his death. He died in April 1911.

References

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
James Cowan
John McLaren
Member of Parliament for Edinburgh
18811885
With: James Cowan 18811882
Samuel Danks Waddy 18821885
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Edinburgh West
18851892
Succeeded by
Viscount Wolmer
Preceded by
Peter Esslemont
Member of Parliament for Aberdeenshire East
18921900
Succeeded by
Archibald White Maconochie
Preceded by
Sir John Kinloch
Member of Parliament for Perthshire East
1903Jan. 1910
Succeeded by
William Young
Political offices
Preceded by
William Bromley-Davenport
Financial Secretary to the War Office
19051908
Succeeded by
Francis Dyke Acland
Preceded by
Charles Hobhouse
Under-Secretary of State for India
19081909
Succeeded by
The Master of Elibank
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