James Buchanan (1785–1857) was a Scottish businessman and philanthropist who established the Buchanan Institute in Glasgow. He was a partner in Dennistoun, Buchanan & Co. of 36 Candleriggs. His endowment creation of the Buchanan Ewing Bequest still funds the education of Scottish youth.
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Life
James was born in the Stockwell district of Glasgow in 1785. He was the son of Alexander Buchanan, a blacksmith and farrier, and his wife Jean Robertson. Aged 14, he went to work in a warehouse dealing in produce from the West Indies. They had great confidence in him and around 1801 they sent him to Grenada where he oversaw a plantation. Around 1805 he moved to Jamaica as a managing director of the company. Around 1810 he moved to Rio de Janeiro. He was very wealthy, enabling him to retire in 1816 aged only 31.
From 1816 onwards he was living in Buenos Aires, investing his fortune in stocks and shares with an emphasis on railways and canals both in Britain and South America. This further increased his wealth.
He returned to live in Glasgow in 1816. From 1835 he had a house on the Moray Estate in Edinburgh's fashionable West End: first at 8 Darnaway Street and from 1850 at 49 Moray Place, a huge Georgian townhouse.