Sir George Buchanan, 21st Laird of Buchanan (d. 1651), was an officer in the Scottish army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

Wars of the Three Kingdoms

The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch...

, and also held a number of civil positions including a Commissioner to Parliament

Parliament of Scotland

The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...

 for Stirlingshire and member of the Committee of Estates

Committee of Estates

The Committee of Estates governed Scotland during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms when the Parliament of Scotland was not sitting. It was dominated by Covenanters of which the most influential faction was that of the Earl of Argyll....

.

Biography

Sir George was the son of Sir John Buchanan and Anabella, daughter of Adam Erskine, commendator of Cambuskenncth, a son of the Master of Mar.

Bishops War

In 1641 Sir George commanded a Scottish company in the Scottish army commanded by Alexander Leslie

Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven

Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven was a Scottish soldier in Dutch, Swedish and Scottish service. Born illegitimate and raised as a foster child, he subsequently advanced to the rank of a Dutch captain, a Swedish Field Marshal, and in Scotland became lord general in command of the Covenanters,...

 that invaded England during the Bishop's War, and was a commissioner for the trial of "broken men" later the same year.

1643–1648

During the 1640s Sir George represented Stirlingshire on the Committee of Estates (1644), and as a Commissioner to Parliament from 1644 until 1646. He served on the Committee of War in the years 1643, 1644, 1646, 1648. He took on these position while still held a command in the army—In 1645 he was given leave from Parliament to return to his regiment in which there had been disaffection.

The Buchanan estates were pillaged by soldier fighting for Montrose

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman and soldier, who initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed...

, and Sir George was active as a colonel of foot in Marquis of Argyll's

Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll

Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, was the de facto head of government in Scotland during most of the conflict known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, also known as the British Civil War...

 campaign to defeat him. In 1647–1648 he refused to support the Engagement (an agreement made by a faction of the Covenanter

Covenanter

The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...

s to which he was not a member and Charles I who was by then a prisoner of the English Roundheads), so he did not participate in the disastrous Preston Campaign of that year.

1649–1651

With the trial and execution of Charles I

High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I

The High Court of Justice is the name given to the court established by the Rump Parliament to try King Charles I of England. This was an ad hoc tribunal created specifically for the purpose of trying the king, although the same name was used again for subsequent courts.Neither the involvement of...

, the political kaleidoscope of allegiances in Scotland changed. Sir George went from supporting the party that had opposed Charles I to that which supported Charles II, and as before he was active in both the civil and military arenas.

Sir George served on both the Committee of War and as a Commissioner for the revaluation of Stirlingshire in 1649, and from 1449 until 1651 served both as a Commissioner to Parliament, and on the Committee of Estates.

In 1650 Sir George was commissioned as a Colonel of horse (cavalry), and was, with his regiment, at the battle of Dunbar

Battle of Dunbar (1650)

The Battle of Dunbar was a battle of the Third English Civil War. The English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell defeated a Scottish army commanded by David Leslie which was loyal to King Charles II, who had been proclaimed King of Scots on 5 February 1649.-Background:The English...

 in 1650. He was also at the fatal Battle of Inverkeithing

Battle of Inverkeithing

The Battle of Inverkeithing was a battle of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought on 20 July 1651 between an English Parliamentarian army under John Lambert and a Scottish Covenanter army acting on behalf of Charles II, led by Sir John Brown of Fordell. Lambert's force was a seaborne...

 the following year, and with Major-general Sir John Brown of Fordel, colonel of the Midlothian regiment, at the head of their regiments, stopped the passage of Cromwell's

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 troops over the Firth of Forth

Firth of Forth

The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...

, for some days. The Scots were, however, eventually defeated with great loss, and Sir George, with Sir John Brown and other officers, taken prisoner. He died while a prisoner of war towards the end of 1651.

Family

On Sir George's married Elizabeth Preston, daughter of the Laird of Craigmillar and on his death he left one son, John Buchanan, Laird of Buchanan (d. 1682) and three daughters:

• John was the last Last, who was twice married, but had no male issue. By his second wife, Jean Pringle, daughter of Mr. Andrew Pringle, a minister, he had a daughter Janet, married to Henry Buchanan of Leny. After his death his estate was sold by his creditors, and purchased by the ancestor of the duke of Montrose;
• Helen, married Sir John Rollo of Bannockburn;
• Agnes, married James Steward of Rosyth;
• Jean, married John Leckie.