Colonel Charles Wesley Weldon McLean D.S.O., R.F.A. (August 1882 – 5 September 1962) was a soldier and politician.

Early life

He was born in Saint John, NB in 1882. His father, Brig. General Hugh Havelock McLean

Hugh Havelock McLean

Hugh Havelock McLean was a Canadian soldier, politician, and the 17th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick from 1928 to 1935....

 Sr. a lawyer and politician, served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, Canada from 1928 to 1933. He was educated at the Royal Military College of Canada

Royal Military College of Canada

The Royal Military College of Canada, RMC, or RMCC , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC was established in 1876. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers...

 in Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

 1897-1899.

Career

He began his military career in the Boer War

Boer War

The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 1899-1901. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Major McLean commanded the 52 Brigade Royal Horse Artillery, 9th Scottish Division, Imperial Army. Maj. Charles Wesley Weldon McLean was awarded a Distinguished Service Order

Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 (DSO) in 1917 "for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He has commanded his battery with great skill and courage. He has observed fire and commanded the battery from an observation post under heavy fire with great coolness and accuracy."

He remained in England after the War. Standing as a Coalition Conservative, he was elected at the 1918 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1918

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...

 as the Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for the Brigg division

Brigg (UK Parliament constituency)

Brigg was a county constituency centred on the town of Brigg in North Lincolnshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....

 of Lincolnshire,
but did not stand again at the 1922 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1922

The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...

.

Correspondence related to his service in artillery and as MP are in the Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...

, Department of Documents. He died in 1962.

Books

• 4237 Dr. Adrian Preston & Peter Dennis (Edited) "Swords and Covenants" Rowman And Littlefield, London. Croom Helm. 1976.
• H16511 Dr. Richard Arthur Preston "To Serve Canada: A History of the Royal Military College of Canada" 1997 Toronto, University of Toronto Press
  University of Toronto Press
  University of Toronto Press is Canada's leading scholarly publisher and one of the largest university presses in North America. Founded in 1901, UTP has published over 6,500 books, with well over 3,500 of these still in print....
  
  , 1969.
• H16511 Dr. Richard Arthur Preston "Canada's RMC - A History of Royal Military College" Second Edition 1982
• H16511 Dr. Richard Preston "R.M.C. and Kingston: The effect of imperial and military influences on a Canadian community" 1968
• H1877 R. Guy C. Smith (editor) "As You Were! Ex-Cadets Remember". In 2 Volumes. Volume I: 1876-1918. Volume II: 1919-1984. Royal Military College. [Kingston]. The R.M.C. Club of Canada. 1984

External links