John Norman Stuart Buchan, 2nd Baron Tweedsmuir
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John Norman Stuart Buchan, 2nd Baron Tweedsmuir
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, CD, FRSE,
FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
(25 November 1911 – 20 June 1996), commonly called Johnnie Buchan, was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
peer and the son of the novelist
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career ...
. He was a colonial administrator, naturalist, and adventurer. He has been described as a "brilliant fisherman and naturalist, a gallant soldier and fine writer of English, an explorer, colonial administrator and man of business."


Early life

Buchan was born in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
the son of Baron Tweedsmuir and Susan Grosvenor. He was educated at
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
and in 1930 he went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated with a fourth class degree in
History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
. While at Brasenose College he was an active member of the Brasenose College Boat Club, and rowed in the College's 1st Torpid. As an undergraduate, he was also a close friend of
John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a l ...
. Buchan subsequently went on to study at the Dundee School of Economics.


Military career

After a period in the Colonial Administrative Service in
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
he contracted
dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
and was forced to leave Africa on health grounds. He went to join his parents in Canada in 1936. Here he joined the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
. He drove a dog-sled 3000 miles and spent the winter of 1938/9 at the remote Cape Dorset in
Baffinland The Mary River Mine is an open pit iron ore mine on Inuit Owned Land (IOL) operated by the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation (BIMC), in the Mary River area of the Qikiqtaaluk Region, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic Archip ...
. In September 1939 at the onset of war, he joined the
Governor General's Foot Guards The Governor General's Foot Guards (GGFG) is the senior reserve infantry regiment in the Canadian Army. Located in Ottawa at the Cartier Square Drill Hall, the regiment is a Primary Reserve infantry unit, and the members are part-time soldiers. ...
in Canada, and was with the first Canadian troopship to reach England in December 1939. In February 1940 his father died and he became Baron Tweedsmuir. In 1941 he saw active service with the
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment is part of 33 Canadian Brigade Group, one of four brigade groups of 4th Canadian Division. The regimental headquarters and one com ...
(with whom he started as second in command), ultimately in
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
for which he was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in the
1946 New Year Honours The 1946 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and to celebrate the passing of 1945 and the beginni ...
.
Farley Mowat Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Can ...
, who served as an infantryman in the HPE Regiment, described Tweedsmuir, newly in command (due to his predecessor, Bruce Sutcliff, having been killed). Mowat's account is in his war memoir, "And No Birds Sang" (1975, 2003). The task was to take
Assoro Assoro ( scn, Àsaru, la, Assorus, el, Assoros) is a ''comune'' in the Province of Enna, Sicily, southern Italy. The town-site of Assoro occupies the site of ancient Assorus. The fight to take the heights of Assoro during WWII figured promi ...
, an ancient, and well-fortified, promontory blocking the regiment's advance. "Barely thirty years of age, soft-spoken, kindly, with a slight tendency to stutter, he was a tall fair-haired English romantic out of another age . . . his famous father's perhaps. 'Tweedie,' as we called him behind his back, had as a youth sought high adventure
n the Arctic, the African veldt, Canada N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
But until this hour real adventure in the grand tradition had eluded him. Going forward on his own reconnaissance that afternoon in company with the new second-in-command, Major 'Ack Ack' Kennedy, Tweedsmuir looked up at the towering colossus of Assoro with the visionary eye of a
Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–191 ...
, and saw that the only way to accomplish the impossible was to attempt the impossible. He thereupon decided that the battalion would make a right flank march by night across the intervening trackless gullies to the foot of the great cliff, scale that precipitous wall and, just at dawn, take the summit by surprise." The operation succeeded. Tweedsmuir was later wounded in Sicily. He was twice Mentioned in Dispatches.


Scientific career

He led scientific expeditions to
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
and St Ninians Island and was 21 years President of the British Schools Exploring Society. He was promoted to be a Commander of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE) in 1964.


Later life

In later life he lived in Kingston House at
Kingston Bagpuize Kingston Bagpuize () is a village in the civil parish of Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor, about west of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire, England, until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the ...
in rural Oxfordshire. He returned to Scotland for the final two months of his life and died in a small cottage in
North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable ...
. He had no male heir, so upon his death the barony passed to his younger brother.


Family

He married Priscilla Grant, widow of Sir Arthur Grant of Monymusk. She died of cancer in 1978. He remarried in 1980 to Lady Jean Grant. With Priscilla, who sat in the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
''suo jure'' as The Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie, they jointly created the
Protection of Birds Act 1954 Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
.


Publications

*''Always a Countryman'' (1953) *''One Man's Happiness'' (1968)


Positions held

*Rector of
Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...
1948-51 *Chairman of the Joint East and Central African Board 1950-52 *President of the Institute of Rural Life 1951-85 *President of the Federation of Commonwealth and British Empire Chambers of Commerce 1955-7 *President of the Institute of Export 1964-7 *Company Director of BOAC. *Company Director of
Dalgety plc Dalgety plc—as Dalgety and Company—was for more than a century a major pastoral and agricultural company or stock and station agency in Australia and New Zealand. Controlled from London it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and Austr ...
*Company Director of Sun Alliance *Chairman of the
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom) The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of adver ...
1971-4 *Chairman of the Council on Tribunals 1973-80


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tweedsmuir, John Norman Stuart Buchan, 2nd Baron Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College Buchan, John Norman Stuart Alumni of the University of Dundee Rectors of the University of Aberdeen 1911 births 1996 deaths The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment officers Spouses of life peers Canadian Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from London