| The Right Honourable Sir Donald Maclean KBE, PC |
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|---|---|
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office December 1918 – 12 February 1920 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
| Preceded by | Herbert Henry Asquith |
| Succeeded by | Herbert Henry Asquith |
| President of the Board of Education | |
| In office 25 August 1931 – 15 June 1932 |
|
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | Hastings Lees-Smith |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Irwin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 January 1864 Farnworth, Bolton, Lancashire |
| Died | 15 June 1932 (aged 68) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Gwendoline Katherina Leonora Hope |
Sir Donald Charles Hugh Maclean, KBE, PC (9 January 1864 – 15 June 1932), was a British Liberal politician. He was Leader of the Opposition between 1918 and 1920 and served in Ramsay MacDonald's National Government as President of the Board of Education between 1931 and his death in June of the following year.
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Born in Farnworth, Bolton, Lancashire, Maclean was the eldest son of John Maclean, a cordwainer originally of Kilmoluag, in the Inner Hebrides, and his wife Agnes Macmellin.
Maclean practised as a solicitor with practices in Cardiff and Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. A member of the Presbyterian Church of England, he was vice-president of the Cardiff Free Church Council in 1902-3, and also worked closely with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He was a last-minute choice as one of the Liberal Party candidates in Bath at the 1900 general election, but was defeated at the polls.[1] At the 1906 general election, he stood again and was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the constituency.[2]
He lost his seat at the January 1910 general election, but moved constituency at the December 1910 general election and was returned for Peebles and Selkirk,[3] a seat he held until 1918,[4] and then represented Peebles and South Midlothian between 1918 and 1922[4] and the Northern Division of Cornwall between 1929 and 1932.[5]
Maclean was knighted and appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1916,[6] and was Leader of the Liberal Parliamentary Party from 1918 to 1922, as the nominal leader of the Liberal Party, Herbert Henry Asquith had lost his seat in the House of Commons. For two years he also served as Leader of the Opposition, while Labour had no official leader and Sinn Féin refused to participate in parliamentary government.[7]
Towards the end of his life, Maclean joined the National Government headed by Ramsay MacDonald. He served as President of the Board of Education from 1931 to 1932, when he died from cardiovascular disease at the age of sixty-eight.
Maclean married Gwendolen Margaret Devitt (26 September 1880 - 23 July 1962) daughter of Andrew Devitt (1850–1931) and wife Jane Dales Morrison (1856–1947), on 26 October 1907. They and their eldest son, Ian, are buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Penn, Buckinghamshire. Another of his four sons was the diplomat and spy, Donald Duart Maclean. The following information is incorrect: Vice Admiral Sir Hector Charles Donald was the son of Donald Charles Hugh Maclean DSO, 1875-1909, Captain Royal Scots. See Sir Hector's obituary at [8] Another son was:
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