John Buchan Society

Richard Cavendish on an association dedicated to the MP, publisher, soldier, Christian and governor-general of Canada

John Buchan's remarkable career carried him from the obscurity of a Scottish manse to fame and fortune as a bestselling author and on eventually to a barony and the governor-generalship of Canada. On the way he became a country gentleman with a manor house at Elsfield outside Oxford, a Conservative MP, a Companion of Honour and a Privy Councillor. He also made his mark as a publisher, soldier and mountaineer. He was a strong Christian, countryman and fisherman, for whom The Pilgrim's Progress, the catechism and The Compleat Angler were well-loved companions. He moved familiarly among the great and but for illness and the Second World War he might have ended up as Viceroy of India.

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