Robert Buchanan Snr.’s entry in The Dictionary of National Biography, 1886:

1813 – 1866
Socialist,
born at Ayr in 1813.

He was successively a schoolmaster, a lecturer advocating the socialistic views of Robert Owen, and a journalist. Manchester was an important centre of Owenism, and Buchanan settled in that town, where his small books were published. These are:

1. ‘The Religion of the Past and Present Society, founded upon a false fundamental principle inimical to the extension of real knowledge opposed to human happiness,’ Manchester, 1839.

2. ‘The Origin and Nature of Ghosts, Demons, and Spectral Illusions generally, fully and familiarly explained and illustrated,’ Manchester, 1840; this is a sensible pamphlet, in which some of the commoner causes of hallucination are exposed.

3. ‘An Exposure of the Falsehoods, Calumnies, and Misrepresentations of a Pamphlet entitled “The Abominations of Socialism Exposed,” being a refutation of the charges and statements of the Rev. Joseph Barker,’ Manchester, 1840; this went through two editions.

4. ‘Concise History of Modern Priestcraft, from the time of Henry VIII until the present period,’ Manchester, 1840; this is a bitter attack on the church of England. A chapter is devoted to the ‘persecution of the socialists,’ and another sets forth the ‘crimes of the clergy.’

5. ‘The Past, the Present, and the Future,’ Manchester, 1840. In the preface to this work the author disclaims ‘pretensions to the character of poet,’ but adopts blank verse, from a strong natural love of poetry and a belief in its superiority as a vehicle for instruction. ‘The object of the writer is .. to contrast the evils of the old world with advantages of the new moral world of Robert Owen.’

6. ‘Socialism Vindicated’ is a reply to a sermon preached by the Rev. W. J. Kidd, Manchester, 1840. Mr. Kidd was the rector of St. Matthew's, which was opposite to the ‘Hall of Science’ built by the Owenites in 1839.