Buchanan, George, Sir, 1854-1924

The Buchanan family were originally from Ardenconnel in Dunbartonshire. Sir Andrew Buchanan (1807-1882) entered the diplomatic service in 1825 and spent his early career in Constantinople and Corfu. He was in St Petersburg from 1838 to 1841, when he moved to Florence, before returning to St Petersburg in 1844. In 1852 he moved to the Swiss Confederation, and in 1853 to Denmark. After service in Madrid from 1858 and subsequently in the Hague from 1860, he held postings in Prussia (1862), Russia (1864) and Austria (1871-1878). He married firstly, in 1839, Frances Katherine Mellish (d 1854), daughter of the Rev. Edward Mellish, Dean of Hereford and grand-daughter of William Mellish of Blyth Hall and Hodsock, Nottinghamshire (1708-1791), and had five sons and four daughters. After her death he married Georgina Eliza Stuart (d 1904), 3rd daughter of Robert Walter, 11th Baron Blantyre in 1857. He purchased Craigend Castle, Milngavie near Glasgow as a family residence.

His first son, Sir James Buchanan inherited the title and Craigend Castle and died, without issue in 1901.

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