Robert Williams Buchanan was a Scottish poet, novelist, and dramatist. He was the son of Robert Buchanan (1813-1866), an Owenite speaker and journalist, and was born in Caverswall, Staffordshire, England. Buchanan senior, a native of Ayr, Scotland, resided in Manchester for a few years before moving to Glasgow, where Buchanan junior attended high school and university, where he studied alongside poet David Gray. His essay on Gray, originally published in the Cornhill Magazine, recounts their close connection and their travel to London in 1860 in search of renown. His friend, Scottish-American poet James Mackintosh Kennedy, stated in Scottish and American Poems that "Robert Buchanan, the well-known British poet and most genial and variously gifted man, visited America in 1884-85."He penned two poems about Buchanan, "Lament" for his leaving and "Robert Buchanan" after his death. Kennedy's son, born in 1885, was called Robert Buchanan Kennedy. Buchanan's first published works were collections of poetry produced while he was still living in Glasgow. He appears to have renounced them later in life, as they do not appear in any bibliographic references. His first book, Poems and Love Lyrics, was most likely published in 1857, despite being undated. It was reviewed at the Athenaeum in December 1857.
