Douglas Hamilton McLean (18 March 1863 – 5 February 1901) was a British

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

who rowed in the

Boat Race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

five times and won

Silver Goblets The Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless pairs at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing club A rowing club ...

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...

. He was also a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played one match for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in 1896. McLean was born in Sydney, the son of

John Donald McLean John Donald McLean (1820 – 16 December 1866) was a politician and colonial Treasurer of Queensland. Early life McLean was born in Kilmuir, Inverness-shire, Scotland, the youngest son of Donald McLean, landowner, and his wife Flora ''née'' ...

, colonial treasurer of Queensland, Australia.Sussex Battle War Memorial
/ref> He went to England where was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and made his first appearance at Henley in the Eton eight winning the

Ladies' Challenge Plate The Ladies' Challenge Plate is one of the events at Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. Crews of men's eight-oared boats below the standard of the Grand Challenge Cup can enter, although international standard ...

in 1882. He went on to

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

where he rowed in the

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

crew in the Boat Race five times between 1883 and 1887, winning the

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

and 1885 races. He won the University Pairs for New College in 1885 and also

at Henley with his brother,

Hector McLean Hector McLean (1864 – January 1888) was an Australian-born rower who rowed in the Boat Race and won Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta. McLean was the son of John Donald McLean, colonial treasurer of Queensland, Australia. He went to E ...

. In 1886 the McLean brothers were beaten in the final of the Silver Goblets by

Stanley Muttlebury Stanley Duff Muttlebury (29 April 1866 – 3 May 1933) was an English rower notable in the annals of rowing and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Parentage Muttlebury was born 29 April 1866 in London, England, the only child of Captain Jame ...

and Fraser Churchill. McLean was Australia in December 1886 when he played a match for

Geelong Cricket Club The Geelong Cricket Club was originally formed as a Sub-District side to keep the ‘VCA fires burning’, entering the VSDCA in 1964/65, before making its debut as an amalgamated side with North Melbourne Cricket Club in 1985/86. This joint ve ...

Douglas McLean
at Cricket Archive and then in India at the start of 1887, but returned in time to take part in his fifth boat race. During the race McLean's oar broke. Oxford were behind at

Barnes Railway Bridge Barnes Railway Bridge is a Grade II listed railway bridge in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the London Borough of Hounslow. It crosses the River Thames in London in a northwest to southeast direction at Barnes. It carries the ...

, but Cambridge moved into rougher water too far over to the Surrey bank and Oxford were expecting to push through when the disaster struck.

Guy Nickalls Guy Nickalls (13 November 1866 – 8 July 1935) was a British rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics as a member of the British eight that won gold, won 22 events at Henley Royal Regatta and won the Wingfield Sculls three times. Ear ...

, then in his first Boat Race, recorded "Then, 'Ducker' McLean broke his oar off short at the button. With the station in our favour and him out of the boat we could have won even then, but 'Ducker' funked the oncoming penny steamers and, instead of jumping overboard as he should have done, we had to lug his now useless body along, to lose the finish." At Henley the McLeans were again runners up in Silver Goblets to Muttlebury and Charles Theodore Barclay. McLean's brother Hector died at the beginning of 1888 and Douglas started as a rowing coach. He coached the Oxford crews which went on to win over a five-year period. Otherwise he lived in

. On 16 June 1888 he was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

North Somerset Yeomanry The North Somerset Yeomanry was a part-time cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1798 to 1967. It maintained order in Somerset in the days before organised police forces, and supplied volunteers to fight in the Second Boer War. It served on ...

, he was promoted

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 22 October 1892, and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 4 October 1893. In the 1896 cricket season, he made a single

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

appearance as wicket-keeper for Somerset against a

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

team in which W. G. Grace, Jr. opened the batting. From the tailend, McLean scored 9 not out in the first innings, and 4 runs in the second innings. He was also "a fair shot, a very painstaking billiard-player, and a dignified person, who was equally imperturbable whether sitting as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

or watching a close boat race". In 1898 McLean collaborated with William Grenfell in authoring ''Rowing and Punting'', the fourth and final volume for The Suffolk Sporting Series on Sport. The work was commissioned from

Bertram Fletcher Robinson Bertram Fletcher Robinson (22 August 1870 – 21 January 1907) was an English sportsman, journalist, author and Liberal Unionist Party campaigner. Between 1893 and 1907, he wrote nearly three hundred items, including a series of short stories th ...

and edited by

Henry Howard, 18th Earl of Suffolk Henry Charles Howard, 18th Earl of Suffolk, 11th Earl of Berkshire (10 September 1833 – 31 March 1898), styled Viscount Andover between 1851 and 1876, was a British peer and Liberal Party politician. Background Suffolk was the eldest son of C ...

. On 28 March 1900 McLean joined the 69th Sussex Company

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but su ...

with the rank of lieutenant in army, and took part in the

Second Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. He was promoted to captain in the army on 16 August 1900, and later served under the military governor of Pretoria. He died of

enteric fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

in Johannesburg at the age of 37. He is commemorated on the Boer War memorial in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin,

Battle, East Sussex Battle is a small town and civil parish in the local government district of Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south-east of London, east of Brighton and east of Lewes. Hastings is to the south-east and Bexhill-on-Sea to the south. ...

, and on the Eton College memorial, in Lapton's Chapel within

Eton College Chapel Eton College Chapel is the main chapel of Eton College, a public school in England. The chapel was planned to be a little over double its actual length, but this plan was never completed owing to the downfall of the founder Henry VI. A plaque ...

References

External links

The Rowers of Vanity Fair/McLean D H – Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks
at en.wikibooks.org {{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Douglas 1863 births 1901 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of New College, Oxford English male rowers English cricketers Somerset cricketers Imperial Yeomanry officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British military personnel killed in the Second Boer War Oxford University Boat Club rowers North Somerset Yeomanry officers

See also

References

External links