Claudius Buchanan

Claudius Buchanan was born in Cambuslang near Glasgow. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and the Queens' College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1795 by the Bishop of London, and after holding a chaplaincy in India at Barrackpur (1797-1799) was appointed Calcutta chaplain and vice-principal of the college of Fort William. In this capacity he did much to advance Christianity and native education in India, especially by organizing systematic translations of the scriptures.

An account of his travels in the south and west of India, which added considerably to our knowledge of nature life, is given in his Christian Researches in Asia (Cambridge, 1811). After his return to the United Kingdom in 1808, he still took an active part in matters connected with India, and by his book entitled Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment (London, 1813), he assisted in settling the controversy of 1813, which eventually ended in the establishment of an Anglican Indian episcopate as well as the Malankara Marthoma Syrian Church.

Sources

• electricscotland.com

References

1. The Eastern Churches Trilogy, Adrian Fortescue, p366
3. - Significant Scots: Claudius Buchanan