John Buchanan

John Buchanan lived at No. 4 from 1872 to 1883, and then at No. 7 from 1883 to 1890.¹ He was a civil engineer, born in Edinburgh about 1838, son of John Buchanan, a quarryman, and Janet Gray.² The 1841 census recorded the family at 7 Bedford Street.³

He first appears in the Edinburgh Post Office Directory in 1869, at 17 George Street, listed as a civil engineer and surveyor.⁴ About 1889, John Buchanan formed a partnership with his assistant James Bower Bennett, who later also lived at No. 7. Operating from offices at 24 George Street, Buchanan & Bennett worked mainly on water and sewage schemes but also undertook designs for several Catholic churches in Edinburgh.⁵ The partnership was dissolved in 1907.⁶ After Malta Terrace, John Buchanan lodged with the family of Robert Swan Aitchison, M.D., in Great King Street.⁷ He was unmarried and died at 83 Great King Street on 05 May 1910.⁸

1. PO Directories 1882-83 to 1889-90.
2. Year of birth calculated from age in census schedules and death certificate. Parents names from death certificate.
3. Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 06 June 1841. BUCHANAN, John. 685/2 13B/ 7. Ancestry collection ‘1841 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 03 September 2023.
4. PO Directory 1869-70.
5. Dictionary of Scottish Architects. https://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=200464: accessed 03 September 2023.
6. The Scotsman, 14 December 1907.
7. Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 05 April 1891. BUCHANAN, John. 685/2 121/ 13. Ancestry collection ‘1891 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 03 September 2023.
8. Deaths (SR) Scotland. St Andrew, Edinburgh. 05 May 1910. BUCHANAN, John. 685/2 188. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 03 September 2023.