Andrew Buchanan


1690 - 1759

Tobacco merchant who became Lord Provost of Glasgow. The son of a wealthy maltman and younger brother of another George Buchanan (1686 - 1773), Buchanan took advantage of the Treaty of Union which gave Scotland access to the English colonies and amassed a fortune through ownership of tobacco estates in Virginia. He also acquired a considerable portfolio of property in Glasgow. He purchased the Drumpellier Estate (by Coatbridge) in 1739 and built Drumpellier House as his home two years later. He was appointed Lord Provost of Glasgow in 1740.

Though no supporter of their cause, he led a group of prominent citizens who met Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-88), and was able to considerably reduce the amount of money demanded by the Jacobites not to raze the city.

He lies buried in the old Ramshorn kirkyard. Much of the family fortune was lost in the crash of 1777 which followed the American Revolution. Buchanan Street in Glasgow is named after his nephew, another Andrew Buchanan (1725-83).


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