Author: Buchan, Peter
Biography:
BUCHAN, Peter (1790-1854: ODNB)
Folk-song collector, historian, and publisher. He was born on 4 Aug. 1790 at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, to Peter Buchan, a ship’s pilot, and Janet Buchan. On 20 June 1813 he married Margaret Matthew, a Peterhead dressmaker; they were to have seven sons and three daughters but by 1853 just two of the children remained alive. Buchan set up Peterhead’s first printing shop and he was the author of many of the publications issued by the shop. He undertook extensive walking tours throughout the north-east of Scotland collecting songs—only a small portion of which were published during his lifetime. Buchan was determined to record the songs as he heard them, without an overlay of literary language or style; this attracted criticism and condescension, including from Walter Scott (q.v.). ODNB notes that, although only Buchan's name appears on the title page as editor, dialect in the verses in his Ancient Ballads was softened by David Laing and C. K. Sharpe (q.v.). Buchan first applied to the RLF on 9 Dec. 1829; a note on the letter states that the application could "not be entertained in its present form." He persisted and in Jan. 1830 was awarded £15. Thus began a long relationship with the RLF and, over time, Buchan received £155. In Jan. 1835 he wrote to the Fund from Aberdeen, and in about 1850 he purchased property at Dennyloanhead, Falkirk, where he subsequently discovered coal. The discovery led to a long lawsuit with the heirs of the Earl of Wigton and Buchan escaped to Drumkerrin, Co. Leitrim, Ireland, where he occupied himself in writing a history of the lawsuit. By the time of his death he had moved to London where he contracted cholera and died on 19 Sept. 1854. He is buried in the Norwood cemetery. Buchan felt underappreciated in his lifetime--one letter records his many literary and other endeavours that had been appropriated or copied without permission--but his significant contributions to Scottish folk history and ballad collecting have increasingly been acknowledged. Although Buchan claimed very close friendship with Scott, just three letters survive--all from Buchan to Scott. With one, dated 30 Oct. 1830, he sent Scott a gift of lambswool stockings. (ODNB 9 May 2019; ancestry.co.uk 28 Jan. 2025; RLF file 671; Millgate) SR