John Buchan

JOHN BUCHAN d1940. Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada. After a brief legal career, he simultaneously began his writing career & his political and diplomatic careers, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. In 1927 he was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty Nine Steps and other adventure fiction. In 1935 he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George V. He occupied the post until his death aged 64 in 1940 and also received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.