Changing fortunes are a significant feature of many of the historic families listed in the new Scottish edition of Burke's Landed Gentry. Fascinating and often colourful details, hidden away between names, hint at some of the historic events - political, economic and social - that, over the centuries, have shaped Scotland's growth and development and the unique profile of its people.

Angus Carrick-Buchanan is passionate about his family's history which he can trace back to 1016 when Anselan O'Kyan, younger son of an Ulster prince, fled his homeland following his part in an attack on Ireland's Danish occupiers. In Scotland, O'Kyan's Irish surname evolved to Buchanan, thought to be derived from the parish of that name on Loch Lomond.

A source of considerable pride to Angus is that the Carrick-Buchanan family today is one of the few direct surviving male cadet lines of Buchanan of that Ilk, described in earlier editions of Burke's Landed Gentry as "a branch of the ancient and distinguished family of Buchanan of Buchanan or that Ilk". Angus considers this description to be rather archaic but, to the outsider, it resonates perfectly with the family's long and colourful ancestry. This includes prominent landowners, diplomats, members of the armed forces and the Church, merchant bankers, Provosts of Glasgow, Justices of the Peace, a US president, and a merchant who dabbled in illegal imports, fought against King Charles II, and eventually became an outlaw.

Inevitably, there are gaps in the family history: missing names, missing dates, missing details… But these in themselves are intriguing - posing questions that today's scions can only ponder, or perhaps attempt to answer through informed speculation, or even legend passed down over the generations.

What is known is that Angus Carrick-Buchanan's lineage descends from Anselan through the Middle Ages to the fifteenth century where we find one Alexander Buchanan, fifth in descent from John of Leny who was the third son of John Buchanan of that Ilk, Laird of Buchanan. Over the years the laird's descendants succeeded to, or acquired, further estates such as those of Glenny and Gartocharan and, later, Mount Vernon, Drumpellier and Corsewall.

Moving forward to the seventeenth century we find George Buchanan, listed in Burke's as a merchant in the city of Glasgow. "George's father", explains Angus, "was the younger son of Buchanan of Gartocharan and he had come to Glasgow to seek his fortune when his elder brother inherited the Gartocharan estate in Dunbartonshire." George Buchanan was a Justice of the Peace and a merchant in seventeenth-century Glasgow at a time when Scots merchants traded widely with England and continental markets such as France, Holland, Scandinavia and the Baltic States. However, they were denied the right to exploit England's rich colonies. "This did not deter George," remarks Angus. "He pursued the trade in tobacco, using the European continent as an indirect conduit for importing the valuable leaf from plantations in Virginia."

George was also a man of strong conviction and Burke's briefly notes that he "bore arms at Bothwell Bridge, for which he was outlawed". What this indicates is that, at the time of struggles between supporters of the Presbyterian Covenant and the Church and Crown of England, when many Scottish nobles and members of the gentry espoused the Presbyterian cause, George actively supported the Covenanters' uprising against the monarchy and its imposed episcopacy. The Battle of Bothwell Bridge in June 1679 saw some 4,000-5,000 Covenanters fight against Charles II's forces commanded by the Duke of Monmouth, resulting in a resounding defeat for the rebels.

George Buchanan had a son who shared his name. The younger George subsequently became a merchant at a time of great opportunity for Glasgow in economic terms. Following the Treaty of Union in 1707, which saw the legislative union of the country with England and Wales, Scotland was to some small degree compensated for the loss of its independence by the right to trade in England's colonies, being now legally part of "Great Britain". Consequently, notes Angus, "the tobacco trade flourished for Glaswegian merchants. George's financial success meant he was then also able to invest in sugar and cotton plantations in Virginia and, in 1735, to purchase the estate of Drumpellier in Lanarkshire.

"At that same time, together with his three brothers, Andrew, Niel and Archibald, George founded the Buchanan Society in Glasgow, a charitable foundation to help family members experiencing financial problems. This society is believed to be one of the oldest such bodies in the world, if not the oldest. Meanwhile Buchanan Street in Glasgow was so named as a sign of respect for the Buchanan family.

"Perhaps fortunately, George died in 1773, just three years before the family estates in Virginia were seized following the American Declaration of Independence. This led to bankruptcy for the Buchanans and Drumpellier was sold to George's cousins, the Stirlings - a branch of Stirling of Keir."

A number of the descendants in the male line of George's son, Andrew, chose to settle in the West Indies, New Zealand, Newfoundland, Ireland and the United States. Andrew's first son, Arthur, died of smallpox but his second son, again a George, owned three estates in Jamaica.

This George had several children and grandchildren, some of whom eventually returned to Scotland. But there the trail ends as the family in Scotland gradually lost touch with those overseas. This leaves the intriguing question as to the whereabouts of these overseas Buchanans. One branch is listed in Burke's Landed Gentry 1939 as Buchanan "Sometime" of Glenny and living in Los Angeles. Another, more distant, branch went on to produce the fifteenth president of the United States, President James Buchanan (1791-1868). Angus points out that, while James Buchanan was an honest and able man, and a great patriot, "he was a disastrous president".

Back in Scotland, in 1821, the family name Buchanan incorporated the added surname of Carrick. Angus explains that this arose when David Buchanan of Drumpellier and Mount Vernon was left substantial property by Robert Carrick, son of the manse and family tutor. Robert had been offered employment at the Ship Bank, one of the first ever merchant banks established in Glasgow, which was co-founded by the Buchanans. There he was very successful, rising to lead the bank, and making his fortune.

David Carrick Buchanan was also to make a fortune, enabling him to rebuild the family tobacco business and buy back the former family estate of Drumpellier. Meanwhile another estate in Lanarkshire had been named "Mount Vernon" after the Virginian plantation home of George Washington, a neighbouring estate to that of the Buchanans who were part of the social circle of this founding father of the United States.

In the nineteenth century, with the growth in Glasgow of such industries as coal and iron, steel and shipbuilding, the family sold or developed much of its land in Drumpellier. Other land was eventually bequeathed to the town of Coatbridge for the development of a public park which remains to this day. Angus's great-grandfather, Colonel Arthur Buchanan, was the last Conservative and Unionist MP ever to serve Coatbridge, a constituency he represented until 1922.

Another kinsman of particular note in the early twentieth century was Sir George Buchanan, British Ambassador to St Petersburg in the dying days of the Russian Empire, and then Ambassador to Rome. Sir George was following in the footsteps of his father, The Rt. Honourable Andrew Buchanan who, in his time, had been British Ambassador to Berlin, St Petersburg and Vienna and had been made a baronet for his diplomatic service.

All these episodes have shaped the Carrick-Buchanan family and today tradition persists. Military service has been a feature of the family, with representatives of almost every generation for the past two hundred years serving in the Royal Navy, Army or Royal Air Force. Angus is a (T.A.) cavalry officer with the Queen's Own Yeomanry and his brother, Sandy, was an officer in the 1st Bn. Scots Guards. Angus's cousin, Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Buchanan, maintained the naval presence and now keeps the family tree up to date!

The Buchanan Society remains intact, loyal to its original goal, to provide help to Buchanan family members in need.

Although much of the ancestral land is long gone, an estate is still retained at Corsewall, as is some land including the family mausoleum in Drumpellier, Lanarkshire. At Corsewall, dairy and beef farming, forestry and pheasant rearing are maintained, and shoots are organised for English and American visitors. Meanwhile Buchanan Street in Glasgow remains to bear testimony to the family's role in Scottish history.

A passion for history has fuelled the Carrick-Buchanan family's continued interest in its past. And, who knows, perhaps the family's entry in the 2001 edition of Burke's Landed Gentry will be noted by surviving members overseas, enabling some of the gaps in the family history to be filled? Angus points out, too, that there remains a longstanding question mark over chieftainship of the Buchanan clan, a role which has lain dormant for generations...

View of Corsewall Estate across Loch Ryan.

Angus Carrick-Buchanan, Captain, Queens own Yeomanry (on the right), and his brother Sandy Carrick-Buchanan, Captain, Scots Guards (on the left), taken at a R.M.A. Sandhurst Ball.

Sarah powell is a regular contributor to Burke's online magazine "Atavus"