Ann Hermione Buchanan, MBE, FASC (née Baring, 21 May 1941 – 13 February 2022) was a British researcher, author and academic.
[3] Buchanan was born in Winchester on 21 May 1941 to father Raymond Alexander Baring, whom she did not meet until after he returned from fighting in World War II, and mother Margaret Fleetwood Campbell-Preston.
During the war, the women and children of the family went to live with Buchanan's maternal grandmother at Ardchattan Priory, Scotland before returning to Hampshire, settling in Bramley.
[4] After leaving school, Buchanan took secretarial classes and found a job at an agency in London.
Deciding to go into social work, Buchanan resat her English A Level and began studying at a London university,[4] but relocated to Great Bedwyn for health reasons.
[9] They also undertook a study on children in subnormality hospital who had been rendered disabled as a result of child abuse.
[12] Two issues emerged from her NCDS work: first, the impact of divorce on children’s outcomes and second, the important role of fathers.
[13] The work on divorce was also influential highlighting court cases where parents were fighting over the custody of children.
[14] By this point, the focus of Buchanan's research was moving onto how to promote child well-being and supportive family relationships.
[15] Her Centre at Oxford ran seminars every year on ‘Promoting the well-being of children’; two edited volumes emerged from this work.