Susan Charlotte Buchan, Baroness Tweedsmuir (''née'' Grosvenor; 20 April 1882 – 22 March 1977) was a British writer and the wife of author

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career ...

. Between 1935 and 1940 she was

viceregal consort of Canada The viceregal consort of Canada is the spouse of the serving governor general of Canada, assisting the viceroy with ceremonial and charitable work, accompanying him or her to official state occasions, and occasionally undertaking philanthropic work ...

while her husband was the

governor general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

. She was also the author of several novels, children's books, and biographies, some of which were published under the name Susan Tweedsmuir.

Life

Susan was born in

Mayfair, London Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...

. She was a daughter of Norman de L'Aigle Grosvenor (son of the first Lord Ebury) and his wife Caroline Susan Theodora Stuart-Wortley (a granddaughter of the first Lord Wharncliffe), and a cousin of the

Dukes of Westminster Duke of Westminster is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. It is the most recent dukedom conferred on someone not related to the ...

. She married John Buchan on 15 July 1907, and became the Baroness Tweedsmuir (known as Lady Tweedsmuir) when he was created

Baron Tweedsmuir Baron Tweedsmuir, of Elsfield in the County of Oxford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1935 for the author and Unionist politician John Buchan. He served as Governor-General of Canada from 1935 to his death i ...

in 1935. The Buchans had four children, Alice, John,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, and

Alastair Alistair is a masculine given name. It is an Anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic ''Alasdair''. The latter is most likely a Scottish Gaelic variant of the Norman French Alexandre or Latin Alexander, which was incorporated into English in the sam ...

, two of whom would spend most of their lives in Canada. She was a childhood friend of Virginia Stephen (later

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

), and they remained friendly, although not always close, in adult life. The

Hogarth Press The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and now ...

, run by Leonard and Virginia Woolf, published a work of Lady Tweedsmuir's in 1935 and she was the recipient of one of the last letters Virginia Woolf wrote. Her time as Vicereine of Canada is remembered for her energetic relief work. Her library project of gathering books in Eastern Canada for impoverished western communities and sending train carloads of them west was the foundation for many public libraries across the prairies. Her interest in literary education influenced the establishment of the Governor General's Awards, for many years Canada's primary literary awards, and the library at

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence in Ottawa of both the Canadian monarch and their representative, the governor general of Canada. It stands in Canada's capital on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, with the main b ...

. Following her husband's death she returned to Britain, where she wrote several more novels, a series of memoirs, and a biography of her husband. She died at Burford, near Oxford, on 22 March 1977 aged 94 and was buried beside her husband in the churchyard at Elsfield.

Bibliography

* ''The Sword of State: Wellington after Waterloo'' (1928) * ''Jim and the Dragon'' (1929) * ''Lady Louisa Stuart: Her Memories and Portraits'' (1932) * ''The Vision at the Inn: A Play in One Act'' (1933) * ''Funeral March of a Marionette: Charlotte of Albany'' (1935) * ''The Scent of Water'' (1937) * ''Mice on Horseback'' (1940) * ''Canada'' in ''The British Commonwealth in Pictures'' series (1941) * ''The Cat's Grandmother'' (1942) * ''The Silver Ball'' (1944) * ''John Buchan by His Wife and Friends'' (1947) * ''The Rainbow through the Rain'' (1950) * ''The Lilac and the Rose'' (1952) * ''The Freedom of the Garden'' (1952) * ''A Winter Bouquet'' (1954) * ''Cousin Harriet'' (1957) * ''Dashbury Park'' (1959) * ''A Stone in the Pool'' (1961) * ''The Edwardian Lady'' (1966)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tweedsmuir, Susan Buchan, Baroness 1882 births 1977 deaths British baronesses

Susan Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

Canadian viceregal consorts British biographers 20th-century British novelists British women novelists 20th-century British women writers Date of birth unknown Women biographers Wives of knights