Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Buchanan, Andrew (1690-1759)
BUCHANAN, ANDREW (1690–1759), of Drumpellier, lord provost of Glasgow, was descended from a branch of the old family of Buchanan of Buchanan and Leny. He was the second of four sons of George Buchanan, maltster, Glasgow, one of the covenanters who fought at Bothwell Bridge, and Mary, daughter of Gabriel Maxwell, merchant, and was born in 1690. His name appears in M‘Ure's list of the ‘First Merchant Adventurers at Sea’ (View of the City of Glasgow, p. 209), and by his trade with Virginia, where he had a tobacco plantation, he became one of the wealthiest citizens of his day. In 1735 he purchased the estate of Drumpellier, Lanarkshire, and the older portion of Drumpellier house was built by him in 1736. Adjoining Glasgow he purchased three small properties in what was then known as the ‘Long Croft,’ the first purchase being made in 1719, the second in 1732, and the third in 1740 (Glasgow, Past and Present, ii. 196). Through his grounds he opened an avenue for gentlemen’s houses, which he named Virginia Street, and he planned a town house for himself called Virginia Mansion, which he did not live to complete. Along with his three brothers he founded in 1725 the Buchanan Society for the assistance of apprentices and the support of widows of the name of Buchanan. He was also one of the original partners of the Ship Bank, founded in 1750. He was elected dean of guild in 1728, and lord provost in 1740. When after the battle of Prestonpans John Hay, quarter-master of the Pretender, arrived at Glasgow with a letter demanding a loan of 15,000l., Buchanan and five others were chosen commissioners to treat with him, and succeeded in obtaining a reduction to 5,500l. (Memorabilia of Glasgow, p. 361). On account of his zeal in raising new levies on behalf of the government, Buchanan made himself so obnoxious to the rebels that in December 1745 a special levy of 500l. was made on him under threats of plundering his house, to which he replied ‘they might plunder his house if they pleased, but he would not pay one farthing’ (Scots Mag. viii. 30). He died 20 Dec. 1759. By his wife, Marion Montgomery, he left two sons and four daughters.
[Old Country Houses of the Old Glasgow Gentry, 2nd ed. pp. 186-8; Cochrane Correspondence, pp. 107, 114, 132; Glasgow, Past and Present, ii. 196; Scots Mag. viii. 30, xxi. 663.]