John Buchan

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John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir
)

DL
Buchan in 1935
15th Governor General of Canada
In office
2 November 1935 – 11 February 1940
Monarchs
Prime MinisterWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King
Preceded byThe Earl of Bessborough
Succeeded byThe Earl of Athlone
More...
Personal details
Born
John Buchan

(1875-08-26)26 August 1875
Perth, Scotland
Died11 February 1940(1940-02-11) (aged 64)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political partyScottish Unionist
Spouse
​
(m. 1907)​
Children4, including John, William and Alastair
RelativesO. Douglas (sister)
Alma mater
ProfessionAuthor
Signature
WebsiteJohn Buchan Society
Writing career
GenreAdventure fiction
Notable works

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir

DL (/ˈbʌxən/; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation
.

As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel in 1895 and ultimately writing over a hundred books of which the most well-known is

First World War, he was, among other activities, Director of Information in 1917 and later Head of Intelligence at the newly-formed Ministry of Information. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities
in 1927.

In 1935,

King George V, on the advice of Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, appointed Buchan to succeed the Earl of Bessborough as Governor General of Canada and two months later raised him to the peerage as 1st Baron Tweedsmuir. He occupied the post until his death in 1940, beloved of the country and widely mourned throughout the English-speaking world. Buchan promoted Canadian unity and helped strengthen the sovereignty of Canada constitutionally and culturally. He received a state funeral
in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

Buchan was born at today's 18–20 York Place, a double villa now named after him, in Perth, Scotland.[1] He was the first child of John Buchan – a Free Church of Scotland minister – and Helen Jane Buchan (née Masterton). He was brought up in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and spent many summer holidays with his maternal grandparents in Broughton in the Scottish Borders. There he developed a love for walking and for the local scenery and wildlife, both of which are often featured in his novels. The protagonist in several of his books is Sir Edward Leithen, whose name is borrowed from Leithen Water, a tributary of the River Tweed.

After the family moved to Glasgow, Buchan attended

Literae Humaniores (the Classics) at Brasenose College, Oxford, with a Junior Hulme scholarship in 1895 and in his third year achieved a Senior Hulme scholarship, adding to his financial security.[3][4] At Oxford, he made many friends including Raymond Asquith, Aubrey Herbert and Tommy Nelson. Buchan won the Stanhope essay prize in 1897 and the Newdigate Prize for poetry the following year;[4] he was also elected as the president of the Oxford Union and had six of his works published, including a book of short stories (Grey Weather, 1899) and three of his first adventure novels (John Burnet of Barns, 1898; A Lost Lady of Old Years, 1899; The Half-Hearted, 1900)[5][6]

Buchan had his first portrait painted in 1900 by a young Sholto Johnstone Douglas at around the time of his graduation from Oxford.[7]

Author, journalism, war, and politics

Further information: List of works by John Buchan

After graduating from Oxford, Buchan read for and was

Susan Charlotte Grosvenor—daughter of the Hon.Norman Grosvenor, a son of the 1st Lord Ebury, and a cousin of the Duke of Westminster. Together, Buchan and his wife had four children, Alice, John, William, and Alastair
.

In 1910, Buchan wrote

national insurance, and curtailing the powers of the House of Lords,[10] while opposing the welfare reforms of the Liberal Party, and what he considered the class hatred fostered by Liberal politicians such as David Lloyd George.[11]

With the outbreak of the

second lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps.[12]

Recognised for his abilities, Buchan was appointed as the Director of Information in 1917, under Lord Beaverbrook[13]—which Buchan said was "the toughest job I ever took on"[14]—and also assisted Charles Masterman in publishing a monthly magazine detailing the history of the war, the first edition appearing in February 1915 (and later published in 24 volumes as Nelson's History of the War). It was difficult for him, given his close connections to many of Britain's military leaders, to be critical of the British Army's conduct during the conflict.[15] At Beaverbrook's request, Buchan met with journalist and neo-Jacobite Herbert Vivian and admitted to Vivian that he was a Jacobite sympathiser.[16]

Following the close of the war, Buchan turned his attention to writing on historical subjects, along with his usual thrillers and novels. By the mid-1920s, he was living in

Second World War. He believed that Gladstone had taught people to combat materialism, complacency, and authoritarianism; Buchan later wrote to Herbert Fisher, Stair Gillon, and Gilbert Murray that he was "becoming a Gladstonian Liberal."[19]

After the United Free Church of Scotland joined in 1929 with the Church of Scotland, Buchan remained an active elder of St Columba's Church, London. In 1933 and 1934, Buchan was further appointed as King George V's Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Beginning in 1930, Buchan aligned himself with Zionism.[20] He was active and vocal in Parliament in condemning the treatment of Jews in Germany.[21] To a mass demonstration organized by the Jewish National Fund in 1934, Buchan described Zionism as "a great act of justice ... a reparation for the centuries of cruelty and wrong which have stained the record of nearly every Gentile people."[22] He was a friend of Chaim Weizmann and assisted him to keep alive Britain's commitment to a Jewish state.[23][24][25] Despite this, Buchan was later described by Anthony Storr as being "overtly antisemitic".[26] This is, however, a claim that does not hold up amidst the evidence of Buchan's active support to and friendship with Jews and supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland. As Ursula Buchan notes in her biography, the charge of anti-Semitism is almost entirely as a result of some unfavourable comments made by fictional characters, mostly to be found in the Hannay books.[27] In The Thirty-Nine Steps, for example, the anti-Semitic comments of the murdered freelance spy, Scudder, are called 'eyewash' by Hannay and proved to be totally wrong by later events. She cautions, "it is important to avoid anachronism", that is, "[r]acial and national stereotyping, favourable and unfavourable, was commonplace throughout all society" so "it is hardly surprising that characters in JB's novels should engage in it", reflecting that society.[28] As a supporter of the Jewish people and a homeland, Buchan's name was inscribed in the Golden Book of the Jewish National Fund of Israel.[29] His name was also in a Nazi publication, "Who's Who in Britain" (Frankfurt, 1938), reading "Tweedsmuir, Lord: Pro-Jewish activity.[30] In one history of the Jewish experience in Canada, Buchan, as Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir, is described as the "most visible supporter" of the Jews.[31] Both Tweedsmuir and his wife Susan "spoke publicly in favour of Zionism, lending the cachet of the Crown" to the cause of a Jewish homeland.[32] Susan Tweedsmuir's name was also entered into the Golden Book.[33]

In recognition of his contributions to literature and education, on 1 January 1932, Buchan was granted the personal gift of the sovereign of induction into the Order of the Companions of Honour.[34]

In 1935, Buchan's literary work was adapted for the cinema with the release of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, starring Robert Donat as Richard Hannay, although Buchan's story was much altered. This came in the same year that Buchan was honoured with appointment to the Order of St Michael and St George on 23 May,[35] as well as being elevated to the peerage, when he was ennobled by King George V as Baron Tweedsmuir, of Elsfield in the County of Oxford on 1 June.[36] This had been done in preparation for Buchan's appointment as Canada's governor general; when consulted by Canadian prime minister R. B. Bennett about the appointment, the Leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, William Lyon Mackenzie King, recommended that the King allow Buchan to serve as a commoner,[37] but George V insisted that he be represented by a peer.

Buchan's name had been earlier put forward by Mackenzie King to George V as a candidate for the governor generalcy: Buchan and his wife had been guests of Mackenzie King's at his estate,

constitutional dispute that took place in June 1926 and spoke disparagingly of Mackenzie King.[38]

Governor General of Canada

Mackenzie King delivers an address at the installation of Lord Tweedsmuir as Governor General of Canada, 2 November 1935
Native headdress, photo portrait by Yousuf Karsh
, 1937

On 27 March 1935, Sir

signet. Buchan then departed for Canada and was sworn in as the country's governor general in a ceremony on 2 November 1935 in the Legislative Council of Quebec (salon rouge) of the parliament buildings of Quebec
.

By the time Buchan arrived in Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King had been sworn in as Prime Minister after the Liberal Party won the federal election held the previous month. Buchan was the first viceroy of Canada appointed since the enactment of the Statute of Westminster on 11 December 1931, and was thus the first to have been decided on solely by the monarch of Canada in his Canadian council.

Buchan brought to the post a longstanding knowledge of Canada. He had written many appreciative words about the country as a journalist on The Spectator and had followed the actions of the Canadian forces in the First World War when writing his Nelson History of the War, helped by talks with Julian Byng, before first visiting Canada in 1924.

Arctic regions,[43]
to promote Canadian unity. He said of his job: "a Governor General is in a unique position for it is his duty to know the whole of Canada and all the various types of her people."

Buchan also encouraged a distinct Canadian identity and national unity, despite the ongoing Great Depression and

Montreal Gazette dubbed as "disloyal."[45] Buchan maintained and recited his idea that ethnic groups "should retain their individuality and each make its contribution to the national character" and "the strongest nations are those that are made up of different racial elements."[46]

George V died in late January 1936, and his eldest son, the popular

Succession to the Throne Act in 1937.[48] Upon receiving news from Mackenzie King of Edward's decision to abdicate, Tweedsmuir commented that, in his year in Canada as governor general, he had represented three kings.[49]

In May and June 1939, King George VI and

the coronation in 1937; according to the official event historian, Gustave Lanctot, the idea "probably grew out of the knowledge that at his coming Coronation, George VI was to assume the additional title of King of Canada," and Buchan desired to demonstrate vividly Canada's status as an independent kingdom[50] by allowing Canadians to see "their King performing royal functions, supported by his Canadian ministers." Buchan put great effort into securing a positive response from the King to the invitation in May 1937; after more than a year without a reply, in June 1938 Buchan headed to the United Kingdom for a personal holiday, but also to procure a decision on the possible royal tour. From his home near Oxford, Buchan wrote to Mackenzie King: "The important question for me is, of course, the King's visit to Canada." After a period of convalescence at Ruthin Castle, Buchan sailed back to Canada in October with a secured commitment that the royal couple would tour the country. Though he had been a significant contributor to the organisation of the trip, Buchan retired to Rideau Hall for the duration of the royal tour; he expressed the view that while the King of Canada was present, "I cease to exist as Viceroy, and retain only a shadowy legal existence as Governor-General in Council."[50] In Canada itself, the royal couple took part in public events such as the opening of the Lions Gate Bridge in May 1939. The King appointed Tweedsmuir a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order while on the royal train, between Truro and Bedford, Nova Scotia.[51]

Another factor behind the tour was public relations: the presence of the royal couple in Canada and the United States was calculated to shore up sympathy for Britain in anticipation of hostilities with

commander-in-chief of the Canadian armed forces
.

Lord Tweedsmuir's grave in St Thomas's churchyard, Elsfield

On 6 February 1940, he slipped and struck his head on the edge of a bath,

Montreal Neurological Institute were insufficient to save him, and his death on 11 February drew a radio eulogy by Mackenzie King: "In the passing of His Excellency, the people of Canada have lost one of the greatest and most revered of their Governors General, and a friend who, from the day of his arrival in this country, dedicated his life to their service." The Governor General had formed a strong bond with his prime minister, even if it may have been built more on political admiration than friendship: Mackenzie King appreciated Buchan's "sterling rectitude and disinterested purpose."[6]

After lying in state in the Senate chamber on Parliament Hill, Buchan was given a state funeral at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Ottawa. His ashes were returned to the UK aboard the cruiser HMS Orion for final burial at Elsfield, the village where he lived in Oxfordshire.[53]

Legacy

In his last years, Buchan wrote his autobiography

Governor General's Literary Awards, which remain Canada's premier award for literature.[13] His grandchildren James and Perdita Buchan
also became writers.

Buchan's 100 works include nearly 30 novels, seven collections of short stories, and biographies of Sir

Caesar Augustus, and Oliver Cromwell. He was awarded the 1928 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography of the Marquess of Montrose,[54] but the most famous of his books were the spy thrillers, and it is for these that he is now best remembered. The "last Buchan" (as Graham Greene
entitled his appreciative review) was the 1941 novel Sick Heart River (American title: Mountain Meadow), in which a dying protagonist confronts the questions of the meaning of life in the Canadian wilderness.

Tweedsmuir Provincial Park in British Columbia is now divided into Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park and Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area. It was created in 1938 to commemorate Buchan's 1937 visit to the Rainbow Range and other nearby areas by horseback and floatplane. He wrote in the foreword to a booklet published to commemorate his visit: "I have now travelled over most of Canada and have seen many wonderful things, but I have seen nothing more beautiful and more wonderful than the great park which British Columbia has done me the honour to call by my name".[55]

His granddaughter Ursula wrote a biography of him, Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan (2019).[56]

In the 21st century, his writing has come under scrutiny for its attitudes towards race. For instance, Roger Kimball states: "One cannot read far into the commentary on Buchan, ... before encountering some stiff criticism of some of his attitudes and language. The criticism resolves into three main charges: Buchan was a colonialist, ... Buchan was a racist ... Buchan was an anti-Semite:..."[57] while an article in the Herald on Buchan's poem 'The Semitic Spirit speaks' concludes that it "is poisoned by prejudice".[58]

Honours

Viceregal styles of
the Lord Tweedsmuir
(1935–1940)
Reference style
His Excellency the Right Honourable
Son Excellence le très honorable
Spoken styleYour Excellency
Votre Excellence
Ribbon bars of the Lord Tweedsmuir (incomplete)
Medals of John Buchan in the National Museum of Scotland
Appointments
Medals
Awards
Foreign honours
Non-national honours

Honorary military appointments

Honorary degrees

Honorific eponyms

Geographic locations
Schools
Organisations
Coat of arms of John Buchan
Crest
A sunflower Proper.
Escutcheon
Azure a fess between three lions' heads erased Argent.
Supporters
Dexter a stag Proper attired Or collared Gules sinister a falcon Proper jessed belled and beaked Or armed and collared Gules.
Motto
Non Inferiora Secutus (Not Following Meaner Things)[64]

See also

References

  1. ^ Perth City Heritage Fund – Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust
  2. ^ Smith, Janet Adam, John Buchan, Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1965, pp. 30-32
  3. ^ Smith, p. 41 and also Buchan, Ursula, Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps, Bloomsbury, London, 2019, pp. 34 and 49
  4. ^ a b "Queen's University Archives > Exhibits > John Buchan > Oxford, 1895–1899: Scholar Gypsy". Queen's University. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  5. ^ Buchan, Ursula, pp. 57-58 and 61-62.
  6. ^ a b Hillmer, Norman. "Biography > Governors General of Canada > Buchan, John, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir". In Marsh, James H. (ed.). The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Foundation of Canada. Archived from the original on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  7. ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1950). The Dictionary of National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 113.
  8. ^ Smith, Chapter Four "Barrister and Journalist"
  9. ^ "Queen's University Archives > Exhibits > John Buchan > Home and Family". Queen's University. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  10. ^ Parry, J. P. (2002). "From the Thirty-Nine Articles to the Thirty-Nine Steps: reflections on the thought of John Buchan". In Bentley, Michael (ed.). Public and Private Doctrine: Essays in British History presented to Maurice Cowling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 226.
  11. ^ Parry 2002, p. 227
  12. ^ Charteris, John (1931) At G.H.Q., Cassell.
  13. ^ a b c d Office of the Governor General of Canada. "Governor General > Former Governors General > Lord Tweedsmuir of Elsfield". Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  14. ^ "Queen's University Archives > Exhibits > John Buchan > World War 1: The Department of Information". Queen's University. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  15. ISSN 0143-9685
    .
  16. ^ Vivian, Herbert (1923). Myself not least, being the personal reminiscences of "X.". New York: H. Holt and Company. pp. 373–374.
  17. ^ "Debate on the Address". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 24 November 1932. col. 261.
  18. ^ "Debate on the Address". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 24 November 1932. col. 267.
  19. ^ Parry 2002, p. 234
  20. ^ Christopher Hitchens (March 2004). "Between Kipling and Fleming stands John Buchan, the father of the modern spy thriller". The Atlantic. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  21. ^ Buchan, Ursula (2019). Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps. London: Bloomsbury. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-4088-7081-5.
  22. ^ ibid.
  23. ISBN 978-1-4597-0937-9
    .
  24. ^ Weizmann, Chaim (1979). The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann. Israel Universities Press. p. 320-321, Letter 285, Weizmann to Tweedsmuir/Buchan, February 22, 1938, Series A: Letters, Vol. 18.
  25. ^ Rose, Norman (1973). The Gentile Zionists. London: Frank Cass Ltd.
  26. ^ Anthony Storr (1997). Feet of Clay: A Study of Gurus. HarperCollins. p. 168.
  27. ISBN 978-1-4088-7081-5
    .
  28. ^ ibid.
  29. ^ Smith, Janet Adam (1965). John Buchan. London: Rupert Hart-Davis. p. 317.
  30. ISBN 978-1-4088-7081-5
    .
  31. ^ Brown, Michael (2001). "Zionism in the Pre-Statehood Years: The Canadian Response" in From Immigration to Integration: The Canadian Jewish Experience. Toronto: B'nai Brith Canada, Institute for International Affairs. pp. 121–134.
  32. ISBN 978-1-4597-0937-9
    .
  33. ^ ibid.
  34. ^ "No. 33785". The London Gazette. 29 December 1931. p. 12.
  35. ^ "No. 34164". The London Gazette. 28 May 1935. p. 3443.
  36. ^ "No. 34167". The London Gazette. 4 June 1935. p. 3620.
  37. ISBN 978-1-4120-5985-5
    .
  38. ^ Reynolds 2005, p. 125
  39. ^ House of Commons (Canada) Debates, 27 March 1935, page 2144.
  40. ^ House of Commons (Canada) Debates, 27 March 1935, page 2144. Cited with other details in Galbraith, J. William, "John Buchan: Model Governor General", Dundurn, Toronto, 2013. p.19.
  41. ISBN 0-500-13067-1
    .
  42. ^ The Champlain Society. "Former Officer's of The Champlain Society (1905–2012)". Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  43. ^ The first governor-general to travel to the Canadian Arctic was Lord Byng (GG 1921-1926) in 1925. Cited in Galbraith, William, "The Literary Governor-General" in "The Literary Review of Canada", October 1996, page 19.
  44. ^ Smith, Janet Adam (1965). John Buchan: a Biography. Boston: Little Brown and Company. p. 423.
  45. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original
    on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  46. ^ Saunders, Doug (27 June 2009). "Canada's mistaken identity". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  47. ISBN 978-0-7735-0310-6
    .
  48. ^ Tony O'Donohue v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the United Kingdom, 01-CV-217147CM, s. 34 (Ontario Superior Court of Justice 26 June 2006).
  49. ^ Library and Archives Canada (2007). "The Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King". Queen's Printer for Canada. p. 562. Archived from the original on 12 June 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  50. ^ a b c d Galbraith, William (1989). "Fiftieth Anniversary of the 1939 Royal Visit". Canadian Parliamentary Review. 12 (3). Ottawa: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  51. ISBN 9781459712249
    , retrieved 20 November 2015
  52. ^ John Buchan: Master of Suspense BBC4 2 June 2022
  53. ^ Biggs, Percy (28 August 1991). "Biggs, Percy Sydney (Oral history)". Imperial War Museums. Catalogue number 12211. Wood, Conrad (recorder). 23m57s. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  54. ^ Montrose – A History was a scholarly revision of The Marquis of Montrose, published in 1913.
  55. ^ Ministry of the Environment. "BC Parks > Find a Park > Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park > History". Queen's Printer for British Columbia. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  56. ^ {{cite web %7c https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beyond-the-thirtynine-steps-9781408870822/ %7c https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/was-there-no-end-to-his-talents/#comments-container %7c last1=Quinn |first1=Anthony |title=Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan review – a man of no mystery |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/05/beyond-the-thirty-nine-steps-a-life-of-john-buchan-ursula |website=The Observer |access-date=26 December 2019 |date=5 May 2019}}
  57. ^ ""Realism coloured by poetry": rereading John Buchan". newcriterion.com. September 2003. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  58. ^ "First-degree racism and snobbery with violence". HeraldScotland. 25 March 1996. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  59. ^ a b c d e "Material relating to John Buchan, first Lord Tweedsmuir (1875–1940)" (PDF). National Library of Scotland. ACC 12329. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  60. ^ a b Honorary Degree Recipients 1850 – 2008 (PDF). Toronto: University of Toronto. 30 June 2008. p. 8.
  61. ^ "Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia > Tweedsmuir Peak". Mountain Equipment Co-op. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  62. ^ "Find a Walk > The John Buchan Way (Peebles to Broughton)". Walking Scotland. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  63. ^ "John Buchan Centre". John Buchan Society. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  64. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1985. p. 1196.

Further reading

External links

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John Buchan
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Government offices
Preceded by Governor General of Canada
1935–1940 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
George Berry
Dugald Cowan
George Berry to 1931
Dugald Cowan to 1934
Noel Skelton from 1931
George Morrison
from 1934 		Succeeded by
George Alexander Morrison
Academic offices
Preceded by Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh
1937–1940 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New title Baron Tweedsmuir
3 June 1935 – 11 February 1940 		Succeeded by
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