Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/558

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Maclear
538
Maclear

his parliamentary career. He opposed the conservative government on many critical questions, of which the chief were the retention of Chitral, the negotiations leading up to the South African war, and the imposition in 1899 of countervailing sugar duties in India. In the matter of the sugar duties he seconded on 15 June 1899 a motion of want of confidence moved by the opposition, and owing to the angry interruptions on his own side he crossed the floor of the house to finish his speech. The Cardiff conservatives withdrew their support. He disposed of his interest in the 'Western Mail,' and retired from parliament at the dissolution of 1900.

An ardent free trader, Maclean spoke and wrote against tariff reform after its promulgation by Mr. Chamberlain. In a paper read before the Royal Society of Arts (10 Dec. 1903), he emphasised the objections from the Indian point of view (cf. his India's Place in an Imperial Federation, 1904). He now wrote for liberal journals, such as the 'Manchester Guardian' and the 'South Wales Daily News.' Some of these contributions were revised and collected as 'Recollections of Westminster and India' (Manchester, 1902).

An original member of the Institute of Journalists, he was president of the conference at Cardiff in 1899, when he deprecated; a growing spirit [in the press] of obsequiousness to personages in high social or political positions' (Proc. Inst. Journalists, No. 21, Sept. 1897). He revisited India at the end of 1898, and was received with enthusiasm in Bombay. He died at Southborne, Bournemouth, on 23 April 1906, and was buried at Chiswick.

He married (1) in 1867 Anna Maria (d. 1897), daughter of Philip Whitehead, of the 'Bombay Gazette'; and (2) on 23 July 1900 Mrs. Sarah Kennedy, third daughter of Dr. D. Hayle of Harrogate, who survives; there were no children. A pastel portrait was executed by his widow.

[Maclean's Recollections, Guide to Bombay, and other writings; Churchill, Life of Lord Randolph Churchill, 1906; The Times, and Manchester Guardian, 24 April 1906; Times of India, 25 April 1906; Cardiff Times, Stalybridge Standard, and Bombay Gazette Weekly Summary, 28 April 1906; Oldham Chronicle, 30 April 1906; Lucy's Diary of Salisbury Parliament, 1886-92, and of the Unionist Parliament, 1895-1900; personal knowledge; private papers, &c., kindly lent by Mrs. Maclean.]

T. H. B.

MACLEAR, GEORGE FREDERICK (1833–1902), theological writer, born at Bedford on 3 Feb. 1833, was the eldest son of the Rev. George Maclear, M.A., chaplain of Bedford county prison (1832-69), by his wife Isabella Ingle. Educated at Bedford grammar school, he obtained a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1852 and had a distinguished academic career. He won the Carus Greek Testament prize in 1854 and 1855, and after graduating B.A. with a second class in the classical tripos of 1855, he was placed in the first class in the theological tripos of 1856 (its first year). He gained the Burney prize in 1855, the Hulsean in 1857, the Maitland in 1858 and 1861, and the Norrisian in 1863. All five prize essays were published. His Maitland essay of 1858, 'The Christian Statesman and our Indian Empire; or the legitimate sphere of government countenance and aid in promoting Christianity in India,' reached a second edition. That of 1861, on 'Christian Missions during the Middle Ages,' was recast as 'Apostles of Mediaeval Europe' (1869), and was the first of a series of important volumes on missionary history. Maclear proceeded M.A. in 1860, B.D. in 1867, and D.D. in 1872. Ordained deacon in 1856 and priest in 1857, he held curacies at Clopton, Bedfordshire (1856-8), and St. Barnabas, Kennington (1858-60); was assistant-preacher at Curzon Chapel, Mayfair (1860-5); and reader at the Temple (1865-70) select preacher at Cambridge in 1868, 1880, and 1886, and at Oxford in 1881-2; and Ramsden preacher at Cambridge in 1890. He delivered the Boyle lectures at Whitehall in 1879-80 'On the Evidential Value of the Holy Eucharist' (1883; 4th edit. 1898).

Meanwhile Maclear was an assistant master at King's College School, London (1860-6), and headmaster (1867-80). He showed great ability as teacher and organiser, doubled the numbers and greatly raised the standing of the school. While headmaster he declined an offer of the see of Colombo in 1875. Eventually he accepted the post of warden of St. Augustine's Missionary College, Canterbury, in 1880, and held it till his death. In this capacity he worked untiringly as preacher, lecturer, and adviser on foreign mission work. In 1885 he was made an hon. canon of Canterbury Cathedral. He died at St. Augustine's College, after a long illness, on 19 Oct. 1902, and was buried in St. Martin's churchyard, Canterbury.

Maclear was twice married: (1) on 10 June 1857 to Christiana Susan, daughter of J. Campbell, rector of Eye, Suffolk (she