Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Buchanan, John Lanne

1317915Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 07 — Buchanan, John Lanne1886Thomas Finlayson Henderson

BUCHANAN, JOHN LANNE (fl. 1780–1816), author, was a native of Menteith, Perthshire, and was educated at the grammar school of Callander and the university of Glasgow. For some years he was assistant to Robert Menzies, minister of Comrie, and on his death in 1760 he went as missionary of the church of Scotland to the Western Isles. He afterwards resided in London. He was the author of 'Travels in the Western Hebrides from 1783 to 1790,' 1793; 'A Defence of the Scots Highlanders in general, and some learned characters in particular,' 1794; and a 'General View of the Fishery of Great Britain,' 1794. Having entrusted his 'Travels in the Highlands 'to the editorial care of Dr. William Thomson, the latter without his knowledge inserted some severe criticisms of the Scotch clergy and others, which Buchanan in his 'General View of the Fishery of Great Britain' indignantly disclaimed.

[Biog. Dict. of Living Authors (1816), p. 44; Notes and Queries. 2nd series, i. 413-13.]

T. F. H.