James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington

James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington, GCVO, JP (16 August 1849 – 9 August 1935), known as Sir James Buchanan, Bt, from 1920 to 1922, was a British businessman, philanthropist, and racehorse owner and breeder.

Buchanan was born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, the third and youngest son of Alexander Buchanan and his wife Catherine (née McLean),Scottish immigrants, but his parents returned to the United Kingdom shortly after he was born and he was brought up in Larne, where his father worked as a quarry manager. Due to ill health as a child, he was educated privately.

Buchanan joined William Sloan & Co, a Glasgow shipping firm, as an office boy when he was fourteen or fifteen, and was later promoted to be a clerk. In 1868, he joined his brother William in his grain business, also in Glasgow. In November 1879, he moved to London as an agent for the Leith whisky blenders Charles Mackinlay & Co.

He realised that there was an untapped market in England for bottled Scotch whisky and set about producing his own, the Buchanan Blend, which is still available today. He went into business on his own in 1884. Buchanan did not, however, produce his own whisky. It was produced for him by the Glasgow blenders W. P. Lowrie & Co. Marketed in distinctive black bottles with plain white labels, it was commonly known as "black and white whisky", a name that was eventually actually used on the label. By 1903, when his firm was incorporated as a private limited company, Buchanan was worth £750,000. By 1909, Buchanans was the best-selling Scotch in England. He supplied whisky to the House of Commons from 1885. In 1898, he received Royal Warrants to supply Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York. Buchanan opened a Paris office in 1902 and a New York office shortly afterwards. In 1898 he opened Glentauchers malt whisky distillery on Speyside and later acquired two more distilleries. In 1906, he bought Lowrie's and rapidly mechanised their production facilities in Glasgow. In 1907, he acquired an interest in the North British Bottle Manufacturing Company and purchased the Acme Tea Chest Company, both to aid his business. Both were rapidly mechanised. He was a master of publicity, driving a red-wheeled buggy pulled by a black pony and accompanied by a liveried footman.

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