Background
He was the son of the Glasgow merchant George Buchanan, and his first wife Jane Gorvie.
He was the son of the Glasgow merchant George Buchanan, and his first wife Jane Gorvie.
In the early 1790s he was working at Rothesay for David Dale. His interests spread out from mill machinery, to pumps and heating. He also went into bridge construction.
In 1808 Buchanan was working for Henry Houldsworth at Cranstonhill, building a large waterworks.
The following year he set up in business at Portuguese Dundas, and in 1810 he became a burgess of Glasgow. In 1811 he was working on an early railway proposal in Scotland, to run from Dumfries to Sanquhar.