The following note about her daughter Elspeth may also be of interest: Elspeth Buchanan attended Edinburgh College of Art from 1933-1938. [from correspondent 2014]

Obituary: Elspeth Buchanan, painter whose talents led her to heart of naval intelligence operation during the war
 
 Elspeth Buchanan

• by Alison Shaw

Born: 29 November, 1915, in Bridge of Weir. Died: 14 September, 2011, in Edinburgh, aged 95.Elspeth Buchanan was a prolific painter whose talents took her to the heart of Britain’s secret naval intelligence operation during the Second World War.A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, she was recruited as a draughtswoman to help compile maps and charts for handbooks, containing vital information on entire countries, which were used by all of the armed forces during the Allied war effort.Little was known of the activities of the female geographers – dubbed the “Map Girls” – at the time, due to the sensitive nature of their work. And it was not until decades later that the significance of their contribution became apparent.Born in Bridge of Weir in the middle of the Great War, she was the daughter of John Buchanan and his wife Evelyne, the renowned Scottish portrait and landscape artist known as Oughtred Buchanan.The family – which included her elder brother Ian and younger brother and sister, Maitland and Brenda – had moved to Edinburgh when she was small and she was educated at the capital’s St George’s School between 1923 and 1933.There she was already displaying the signs of becoming an accomplished artist and took extra art classes on Saturday mornings to nurture her talents.She went on to study at Edinburgh College of Art from 1933 to 1938 before winning a travelling scholarship and spending the next year in France and Italy.  at home until her mother’s death and then lived and painted near the Botanics where she used to walk every day.