James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington
- James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington
James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington, GCVO (16 August 1849–9 August 1935) was a British businessman and philanthropist.
Buchanan was born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, the son of Scottish immigrants, but his parents returned to the United Kingdom shortly after he was born and he was brought up in Larne. He 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 in the 1920 New Year Honours [LondonGazette |issue=31712 |date=30 December 1919 |startpage=2 |supp=yes] and was raised to the peerage in the 1922 New Year Honours as Baron Woolavington. [LondonGazette |issue=32563 |date=30 December 1921 |startpage=10709 |supp=yes] 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. In 1931 he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO).
Woolavington had just one daughter, the Honourable Catherine Buchanan, so the peerage became extinct on his death.
Footnotes
References
* Biography, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/22/nrich22.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/22/ixuknews.html Was this the richest (and most secretive) British tycoon ever?] , "Daily Telegraph", 22 May 2006
* [http://weldgen.tripod.com/id10.html James Buchanan & Co Ltd 1961] – Histories of Bristol Companies
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/photnpr1917-58.asp#1925 National Photographic Record (NPR): List of subjects commissioned - 1917-1958]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p6279.htm#i62782 Sir James Buchanan, 1st and last Baron Woolavington] – thepeerage.com
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