James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington

James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington, GCVO, JP (16 August 1849 – 9 August 1935), known as Sir James Buchanan, Bt, between 1920 and 1922, was a British businessman, philanthropist and racehorse owner/breeder.

Contents

Background

Buchanan was born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, the son of Alexander Buchanan and Catherine (née McLean),[1] Scottish immigrants, but his parents returned to the United Kingdom shortly after he was born and he was brought up in Larne.

Business career

Buchanan joined a Glasgow shipping firm as an office boy when he was fourteen or fifteen, and was later promoted to be a clerk. In 1868 he joined his brother in the grain business until 1879, when he moved to London as an agent for a company in the whisky trade. He realised that there was an untapped market in England for bottled Scotch whisky and set about producing his own, the Buchanan Blend, which is still available today. He went into business on his own in 1884.

Buchanan was created a Baronet, of Lavington in the County of Sussex, in the 1920 New Year Honours,[2] for "public and local services"[3] and was raised to the peerage in the 1922 New Year Honours as Baron Woolavington, of Lavington in the County of Sussex,[4] for being a "generous supporter of many public and charitable objects".[5] However, it is said that he paid £50,000 for his peerage, and that he signed the cheque "Woolavington" and dated it 2 January – the day after the title was to be gazetted – so that the payment would bounce if he did not receive the honour he had been promised.[6] In 1931 he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO).

Thoroughbred racing

For more than two decades Lord Woolavington was a significant owner/breeder in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing who twice won the Epsom Derby and St. Leger Stakes. Among his best known runners were Epsom Lad, Hurry On, who became the foundation sire for his stud, Captain Cuttle, Coronach, Press Gang, and Coventry Stakes winner Manitoba who went on to become the leading sire in Australia in 1944 and 1945.[7]

Personal life

Lord Woolavington had just one daughter, the Honourable Catherine Buchanan, so the peerage became extinct on his death in August 1935, aged 85.[1]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b thepeerage.com James Buchanan, 1st and last Baron Woolavington
  2. ^ London Gazette: no. 31830. p. 3432. 19 March 1920.
  3. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31712. p. 2. 30 December 1919.
  4. ^ London Gazette: no. 32598. p. 954. 3 February 1922.
  5. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 32563. p. 10709. 30 December 1921.
  6. ^ telegraph.co.uk "Was this the richest (and most secretive) British tycoon ever?", by Ben Fenton, 22 May 2006.
  7. ^ horseracinghistory.co.uk

References

Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Woolavington
1922–1935		 Extinct