View source for George Buchanan (engineer, born 1865)

{{Short description|British civil engineer}}
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{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox engineer
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|name                 = George Cunningham Buchanan
|nationality          = 
|birth_date           = 20 April 1865
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|death_date           = 14 April 1940
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|discipline           =
|institutions         = [[Institution of Civil Engineers]]
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'''Sir George Cunningham Buchanan''' {{post-nominals|KCIE}} (20 April 1865 – 14 April 1940) was a British [[civil engineer]] particularly associated with [[harbour]] works in [[Burma]], [[Iraq]] and [[Bombay]], during the early years of the 20th century.

Buchanan first came to prominence in 1905 when he collaborated with [[Patrick Meik]] on designs for the [[Yangon River|Rangoon River]] training works in [[Burma]]; Meik was consulting engineer and Buchanan was chief engineer. The project reclaimed some 1.2&nbsp;km² of land behind a wall of rubble {{convert|2|mi|km}} long and {{convert|230|ft|m}} wide.

At the start of the [[World War I|First World War]] in 1914, Buchanan was working in [[India]], until called to support the British Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force at [[Basra]] in [[Mesopotamia]] (now part of modern-day [[Iraq]]) with advice on improving shipping channels into the port. After many delays, he was finally able to design and supervise construction of a line of wharves complete with cranes, sheds, roads and railway lines. In 1917, Buchanan was promoted to the rank of [[brigadier general (United Kingdom)|brigadier general]] and was knighted. However, he had already distanced himself from his compatriots by his reputation for egotism and outspokenness, and jealousy of his enormous salary as Director-General of Port Administration and River Conservancy. His military counterpart, General MacMunn, wrote that he: "irritated everyone who came across him or worked for him". Buchanan later wrote a critical book about the military campaign and his own part in turning it around, ''The Tragedy of Mesopotamia'' (1938).

Buchanan was a member of the Indian Munitions Board from 1917 – 1919. In 1920, working with Patrick’s brother [[Charles Meik]] in a firm renamed CS Meik and Buchanan in 1920, Buchanan was invited to [[Bombay]] to investigate a potential land reclamation project, the [[Bombay Backbay]] reclamation. The costs of the huge and ambitious scheme, and the time it would take to complete, soon escalated out of control, and a subsequent enquiry blamed Sir George (the project became known as Lloyd’s Folly, after Sir [[George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd|George Lloyd]], then [[governor of Bombay]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Backbay Reclamations |url=http://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/physical/geo/backbay-reclamation.html |date= 28 October 1999|publisher=TIFR |accessdate=1 March 2013}}</ref>

At the same time, Sir George Buchanan was alleged to have "criticised and condemned the proposals of another engineer and had offered his services uninvited" – an action which saw him expelled from the British [[Institution of Civil Engineers]]. His later career was largely focused overseas, notably in [[Australia]] where he prepared an influential report on the country's ports in 1926 at the request of the Federal Government.

His ignominious departure from UK engineering circles meant that the name 'Buchanan' had to be deleted from the company name in 1923 when the firm became CS Meik and Halcrow ([[William Halcrow]] had been a partner in the firm from the previous year and went on to take a more controlling interest in what became the [[Halcrow Group Limited|Halcrow Group]]).

Sir George’s nephew, [[Colin Buchanan (town planner)|Sir Colin Buchanan]] was a pioneer in transport planning.

== References ==

<references />

==Bibliography==
{{Expand list|date=October 2018}} 
* Description of the Rangoon River Training Works (1914)
* Report on the Development of Mesopotamia (1917)
*{{Citation | title=Report on the development of the Port of Chittagong. | publication-date=1918 | publisher=Government Monotype Press | oclc=867886824 }}
* The Ports Of India (1920)
* Economics Of Port Administration And Development
*{{Citation | title=Northern Territory development and administration : report | publication-date=1925 | publisher=Victorian Govt. Printer | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18157600 }}
*{{Citation | title=Report on the ports of north and north-western Australia, 30th April 1926 | publication-date=1926 | publisher=Govt. Printer for the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12783426 }}
*{{Citation  | title=Report on transport in Australia with special reference to port and harbour facilities | publication-date=1927 | publisher=Govt. Printer | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10116612  }}
*{{Citation | title=The tragedy of Mesopotamia | publication-date=1938 | publisher=W. Blackwood | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18609360 }}


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[[Category:1865 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:British civil engineers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]