Sir John MacLean, FSA, (born 17 September 1811 in Blisland, Cornwall; died 5 March 1895 in Clifton, Bristol) was a British civil servant, genealogist and author.
MacLean was a son of Mr. Robert Lean, of Trehudreth, Blisland, Cornwall, where he was born in 1811. His mother was a daughter of Mr. Thomas Every, of Bodmin. After genealogical research he assumed his ancestors were connected to the Scottish Clan Maclean,[1] and in 1845, with his brothers, he resumed the original prefix of "Mac". He married at Helland, Cornwall, in 1835 Mary Billing, eldest sister and co-heiress of Mr. Thomas Billing, of Lanke, Cornwall. In 1837 he entered the Ordnance Department of the War Office, and became deputy auditor in April, 1865. He resigned this post on a pension, and received a knighthood in January, 1871. Sir John MacLean died at his residence of influenza, Glasbury House, Richmond Hill, Clifton, Bristol, on Tuesday 5 March 1895.[2]
The historian Sir John Maclean (1811-1895) came from Trehudreth in Blisland and his Parochial History of the Deanery of Trigg Minor (1872-1879) in 3 volumes is the most detailed work of parochial history which deals with Cornwall (the deanery consisted of 20 parishes at the time he wrote). It was published in parts intended for binding as three volumes: there was also a separate edition of the part on Blisland. (His name was originally John Lean but he adopted that of Maclean in the erroneous belief that he had Maclean ancestors.)[3]
Sir John was the author of several other historical works, including Life and Times of Sir Peter Carew, Letters of Sir Robert Cecil to Sire George Carew, and Memoir of the Family of Poyntz.[2]