Dictionary of Indian Biography/Buchanan, Rev. Dr. Claudius
BUCHANAN, REV. DR. CLAUDIUS (1766–1816)
Born March 12, 1766: son of Alexander Buchanan: educated at Inverary and Glasgow University; Queen's College,Cambridge, 1791–5: ordained, 1795: went to Calcutta as a Chaplain on the Establishment, 1797: at Barrackpur and Calcutta: was Professor and Vice-Provost of the College of Fort William, 1799–1807, when the latter appointment was abolished: he devoted himself to the promotion of Christianity and to native education: he made two prolonged tours in Southern and Western India, 1806–7, to ascertain the circumstances and facts of the various religions of the country and suggest measures: he returned to England in 1808, and advocated the appointment of Bishops in India and the cause of missions, besides publishing translations of the Scriptures in Malayalam, Syriac, etc.: he wrote Christian Researches in Asia, 1810: Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment, and papers about Christianity and Christian Missions in India: he was D.D. of Glasgow and Cambridge: died Feb. 9, 1815.