John Buchan
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John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC CH GCMG GCVO (26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a British novelist and Unionist politician who, between 1935 and 1940, served as the Governor General of Canada. He was born and primarily educated in Scotland, and further schooled in England, obtaining a degree in Literae Humaniores, and befriending a number of influential future writers while studying at the University of Oxford. After a brief career in law, Buchan simultaneously began writing and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa, and eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort following the outbreak of the First World War. Once back in civilian life, Buchan was elected the Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but spent most of his time on his writing career. He wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction. On the recommendation of Canadian Prime Minister Richard Bennett, Buchan was appointed by George V, the king of Canada, as the Canadian viceroy, Buchan proved to be enthusiastic about literacy as well as the evolution of Canadian culture. He died in 1940, suffering the consequences of a stroke at Rideau Hall. He received a state funeral in Canada, and his ashes were returned to the UK and interred at Elsfield, Oxfordshire