Angus Buchanan
(1886-1954), Explorer, photographer and film-makerSitter in 2 portraits
by T.A. Glover
bromide postcard print, 1922
NPG x198208
Angus Buchanan with Ali and Sakari
by T.A. Glover
bromide postcard print, 1923
NPG x198196
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Russ Walker
16 September 2017, 16:45
Born in Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands, off the very northern point of Scotland, Buchanan’s first travels was with a Zoological Expedition to the Barren Grounds in Australia in 1914, when he was 28. The following year, with World War One underway, he joined the 25th Royal Fusiliers and served for three years in East Africa until he was wounded whilst fighting in Beho-Beho and was sent home.
His first trip to the Sahara was in 1919 with a 1,400 mile expedition financed by the 2nd Baron Rothschild who was keen to find new species of animals in an unexplored area of Nigeria. This was a busy year for Buchanan, in June he married Olga Cherry in London and in July his first book, titled Three Years in East Africa was published.
On returning from his trip to the Sahara, Buchanan brought back over 140 mammals that Lord Rothschild gifted to the Natural History Museum. Eighteen of these were newly discovered species.