Buchan

Crest: A sun shining upon a sunflower full blown Proper

This name is derived from the region of Buchan in the northeastern part of Aberdeenshire and part of Banffshire. The ancient earldom of Buchan was first held by the Comyns. However, after their defeat by Robert the Bruce, the land was conferred on Alexander Stewart (the “Wolf of Badenoch” and son of Robert II).

Ricardus de Buchan was a clerk to the bishopric of Aberdeen around 1207. William de Buchan held land around Aberdeen before 1281. Sir Thomas de Boghan is listed on the Ragman Roll rendering homage to Edward I of England in 1296. The shining sun shown on the Buchan crest may have originated as an eight-rayed figure on his seal.

The lands of Auchmacoy have been in the family’s hands since the fourteenth century, but an official charter was only issued to the second Chief, Andrew, in 1503.

The barons of Auchmacoy were always strong royalists and supporters of the Stuarts throughout the seventeenth century.

Thomas, third son of James Buchan of Auchmacoy, was a professional soldier who fought in France and Holland. Thomas served in Douglas’s Scots regiment, raised for the king of France, until 1686. James VII appointed him a colonel in the Earl of Mar’s regiment. He fought with the Viscount Dundee on behalf of the deposed monarch.

Dundee was killed at Killiecrankie in 1689. Thomas was made commander-in-chief of all Jacobite forces, receiving his commission from the king in Ireland. In May of 1690, Buchan was taken by surprise by a government force under General Mackay. Buchan escaped and regrouped, eventually joining forces with the Farquharsons.

Buchan faced the Master of Forbes and his cavalry outside Aberdeen. He is famous for how he arranged his forces to fool Forbes into thinking his was a much larger force and about to attack Aberdeen. However, after panicking the enemy, Buchan turned to march towards Inverness. Having lost many highlanders (who left to go home for the season), Buchan was eventually defeated by General MacKay but was allowed to go into exile in France. He returned to fight at the battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715.

James Bucan, fourteenth of Auchmacoy, was recognized as clan chief in 1830. The title passed to his daughter Louisa and then to her cousin Sir Norman Sinclair, eighteenth Earl of Caithness. In 1913, he petitioned Lord Lyon for the right to the name and arms of Buchan of Auchmacoy. The title has been secure since and the seat remains at Auchmacoy House near Ellon.

Alexander Buchan was a prominent meteorologist who first observed “Buchan spells” -- seasonal temperature departures. He established the weather map as the basis for forecasting.

John Buchan, born in 1845, served in the colonial service in South Africa. He wrote the novel ‘The Thirty-nine Steps’ which was made into the movie by Alfred Hitchcock. In 1935 he was appointed Governor General of Canada.