667 John McClean

Constituency : Stafford  1868-73

John  took  one  of  the  new  Staffordshire  East  seats  for  the  Liberals.

John  was  a  civil  engineer  from  Belfast. He  was  educated  at  Glasgow  University . In  the  1840s  he  became  the  sole  owner  of  the  South  Staffordshire  Railway  which  he  had  constructed. He  planned  and  built  The  South  Staffordshire  Water  Works  Company  which  supplied  water  to  a  large  area  of  the  Black  Country.  He  was  also  chairman  of  the  Anglo-American  Telegraph  Company  and  had  interests  in  coal  mining. He  had  a  large  part  in  the  development  of  Barrow-in-Furness.  He  tried  and  failed  to  get  elected  in  Belfast  in  1857.

John  suffered  sunstroke  while  touring  India  and  his  health  never  fully  recovered.

He  died  in  1873  aged  60.