Buchanan at Queen’s College, Cambridge 

‘After leaving Cambridge, Claudius Buchanan became a curate in Mr Newton’s church. The rector then supported his successful application to become an East India Company chaplain, ministering to its soldiers. Before leaving England Claudius visited his mother in Scotland. She said nothing about the decade in which he had deceived and neglected her.’ This is a quote from The Claudians: gardens, landscapes, reason and faith: John Claudius Loudon and Claudius Buchanan, Tom Turner (Kindle, 2024).

Claudius Buchanan's gift to Queen’s College Cambridge 

Queen's College was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, and in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV. It then became known as Queens' College. Buchanan’s fees and expenses for study at Queen's was paid by Henry Thornton on John Newton’s recommendation. Later, when Buchanan had a generous salary from the East India Company, this money was repaid to Thornton. Claudius Buchanan's study at Cambridge University transformed his life and made his appointment as a chaplain with the East India Company possible. The EIC was then the largest company in the world. Its directors did not want to support missionary activity but, in the early nineteenth century, Buchanan led them to doing so. This was a significant part of British colonial history. On his return from India, Buchanan gifted a rare Syriac Bible to Queen's College. The Buchanan Bible is described as 'one of the unique treasures of Cambridge University’s special collections (mss O.o. 1-2). It is a a Syriac language bible codex, or pandect (from the Greek: “containing everything”).