Frank McClean (1837-1904)

The following is the text of the obituary published by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) : Memoirs : Obituary Notices Volume 160 Issue 1905 : [174]

Frank McClean, M.A. (Cantab.), LL.D. (Glasgow), F.R.S., only son of the late Mr. J. R. McClean, Past-President, died at Brussels on the 8th November, 1904, in his sixty-seventh year. Born in 1837, he was educated at Westminster School, proceeding subsequently to Glasgow University and to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1859. Adopting his father's profession, he was apprenticed in the same year to Sir John Hawkshaw, Past-President, during which period and subsequently he was engaged on the works of the Penarth Docks and the Middle Level Drainage. On completing his pupilage, he acted as Resident Engineer to McClean and Stileman by whom he was employed on the doubling of the Furness Railway between Ulverston and Carnforth, which included some heavy works, and on the construction of the Furness and Midland joint railway.

He also carried out surveys for railways in Moldavia, and in 1863 he was made partner in the firm. Between this date and 1871, when he gave up his professional pursuits, Mr. McClean represented his firm on many works carried out by them, including the Barrow Docks, and the Furness and Midland Railway, surveys and borings at Piel Bar, and the extension of Piel Pier and railway.

After his retirement, Mr. McClean devoted the remainder of his life to astronomical science. The results of his labours were embodied in various important Papers communicated by him to the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society, and in 1899, he was awarded the gold medal of the latter society for his researches in solar and stellar spectroscopy.

In 1890 he founded the Isaac Newton studentships at Cambridge, and in 1895 he presented the Victoria photographic telescope to the Cape Observatory.

The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Glasgow University in 1894, and in the following year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Mr. McClean married in 1865 Ellen, daughter of Mr. John Greg, of Escowbeck, Lancaster.

He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution on the 5th April, 1864, and was transferred to the class of full Members on the 10th December, 1867. . . .

A bookplate 'From the Collection of Frank McClean' - engineer and astromoner. [658]	Mr. Frank McClean FRS (1837-1904) [000] [002]
Fitzwilliam Museum McClean Bequest - His bequest of 203 volumes upon his death in 1904 almost doubled the museum's possessions. A tribute to Mr. McClean's life and a lasting legacy to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. [658]