William McLean (politician)

William McLean
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for City of Wellington
In office 15 January 1892 – 28 November 1893
Personal details
Born	1845 Grantown, Scotland
Died	25 August 1914
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Mary Elizabeth Crumpton

William McLean (1845 – 25 August 1914) was a 19th-century Liberal Party Member of Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand.

McLean was born in Grantown, Scotland, in 1845, the youngest son of John McLean, a shoemaker. He was adopted by a parish priest at an early age. Aged 13, he moved to Rochdale to work as a cotton spinner. His employer suspended operations in 1863 in the Lancashire Cotton Famine caused by the American Civil War, and McLean emigrated to New Zealand for the Otago Gold Rush.

He arrived in Dunedin on the Dauntless and went to the gold fields in Central Otago. He was successful and could open a store in the Bread and Water gully. When word of the West Coast Gold Rush arrived, he went to Hokitika at once. He broke his arm digging at Lake Kaniere and had to go to Christchurch for medical treatment, as there were no doctors on the West Coast yet. He returned to the West Coast, and then back to Central Otago, before settling in Reefton. For a time, he was a schoolmaster on the West Coast. He erected the second gold mining plant in Reefton, and became an auctioneer and a mining and commission agent.

On 20 April 1877, McLean married Mary Elizabeth Crumpton, the daughter of Thomas Crumpton. The Crumptons were from Charleston on the West Coast.

He moved to Wellington in 1884, where he was an auctioneer at first. For a few years following, he was secretary for the Wellington Loan Company, and afterwards secretary for the Empire Loan and Discount Company.

McLean was one of three candidates in the Inangahua electorate in the 1881 election, but came last with just 3% of the vote.

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