• Name: Buchan, Dr William
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 1729
• Death Date: 25  February  1805
• Occupation: physician
• Occupation: author

Buchan was educated at the University of Edinburgh and subsequently practised in Yorkshire and Sheffield. He achieved extraordinary success in 1769 with the publication of Domestic Medicine, or, The Family Physician which remained popular until the end of the nineteenth century. There were over 140 English language editions and it was translated into multiple languages. He moved to London in 1778 and frequented the Chapter Coffee House where he was a member of the Wittinagemot Club, a literary society.

Godwin also knew his son, Alexander Peter Buchan, and appears to have distinguished father from son by denoting the former as 'Dr Buchan'. It is possible that other plain 'Buchans' do refer to the son but unlikely given the social context.

• DNB
• John Times, Club life of London with anecdotes of the clubs, coffee-houses and taverns of the metropolis during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, 2 vols (London: Richard Bentley, 1866)

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