James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington, , known as Sir James Buchanan, Bt, from 1920 to 1922, was a British businessman, philanthropist, and racehorse owner and breeder.
Early life
Buchanan was born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, the third and youngest son of Alexander Buchanan and his wife Catherine, Scottish immigrants, but his parents returned to the United Kingdom shortly after he was born and he was brought up in Larne, where his father worked as a quarry manager. Due to ill health as a child, he was educated privately.
Business career
Buchanan joined William Sloan & Co, 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 William in his grain business, also in Glasgow. In November 1879, he moved to London as an agent for the Leith whisky blenders Charles Mackinlay & Co. 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 did not, however, produce his own whisky. It was produced for him by the Glasgow blenders W. P. Lowrie & Co. Marketed in distinctive black bottles with plain white labels, it was commonly known as "black and white whisky", a name that was eventually actually used on the label. By 1903, when his firm was incorporated as a private limited company, Buchanan was worth £750,000. By 1909, Buchanans was the best-selling Scotch in England. He supplied whisky to the House of Commons from 1885. In 1898, he received Royal Warrants to supply Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York. Buchanan opened a Paris office in 1902 and a New York office shortly afterwards. In 1898 he opened Glentauchersmalt whisky distillery on Speyside and later acquired two more distilleries. In 1906, he bought Lowrie's and rapidly mechanised their production facilities in Glasgow. In 1907, he acquired an interest in the North British Bottle Manufacturing Company and purchased the Acme Tea Chest Company, both to aid his business. Both were rapidly mechanised. He was a master of publicity, driving a red-wheeled buggy pulled by a black pony and accompanied by a liveried footman. In 1909, Buchanan proposed a merger between the "big three" whisky firms: Buchanan's, Dewar's, and Walker's. This, however, was not successful. He tried again in 1914, and in April 1915 Buchanan's and Dewar's formed a joint holding company, Scotch Whisky Brands Ltd, renamed Buchanan Dewar Ltd in 1919. In 1925, the "big three" merged with the Distillers Company. Buchanan was a director, but his age and failing health meant he played little part in the company, attending only a single board meeting.
Buchanan was created a baronet, of Lavington in the County of Sussex, in the 1920 New Year Honours, for "public and local services" and was raised to the peerage in the 1922 New Year Honours as Baron Woolavington, of Lavington, in the County of Sussex, for being a "generous supporter of many public and charitable objects". However, it is said that he paid £50,000 for his peerage, signing the cheque "Woolavington" and dating 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. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1931 New Year Honours.
Family and personal life
On 5 December 1891, Buchanan married a young widow thirteen years his junior, Annie Eliza Bardolph. Annie already had a son and a daughter; together the couple had a daughter, the Honourable Catherine Buchanan, and a son who died in infancy. Annie was a nurse and worked in London hospitals during the First World War. She died suddenly in October 1918. The peerage and baronetcy became extinct on Woolavington's death at Lavington Park in August 1935, aged 85. He left an estate worth over £7 million and was buried in the nearby churchyard of Graffham.
