John McLean (1828-1886) was the first Anglican

Bishop of Saskatchewan The Diocese of Saskatchewan is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights The Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights, founded in 1875 as the Province of Rupert's Land, forms one of four ecclesiastical provinces in t ...

.Diocesan history
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Life

He was born in 1828. He was the son of Charles Maclean of Portsoy, Banffshire. In 1847, he gained a bursary at

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Aberdonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Univer ...

, and in 1861 became M.A. Through relations in business in London, he entered a counting-house there; became interested in the Church of England Young Men's Society, and took to studying foreign languages. In 1858, he was ordained by the Bishop of Hipon, and went out to Canada under the auspices of the Colonial and Continental Church Society, but soon became assistant to the Bishop of Huron in the cathedral at London, Toronto. In 1866, the Bishop of Rupertsland, who had been at Aberdeen with Maclean, invited him to come into his diocese, and Maclean was appointed warden of St. John's College, rector of St. John's Cathedral,

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, and archdeacon of Assiniboia, a title afterwards altered to archdeacon of

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. Maclean worked hard; the population increased greatly with the growth of Winnipeg, and consisted in the country districts of very poor settlers. Visiting England in order to raise money for a new bishopric, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts granted a certain income, and on 3 May 1874 he was consecrated bishop of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. His diocese consisted of 420,000 square miles of very poorly settled country, and no large subscriptions could be relied on from the inhabitants. However, Maclean managed, by energetically calling attention in England and Canada to the needs of the district, to secure a permanent endowment for the see and for Emanuel College at Alberta, which under his care became a university.

Family

He died about 12 November 1886, and left a widow and children.

References

;Attribution 19th-century Anglican Church of Canada bishops Anglican bishops of Saskatchewan 1828 births 1886 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen {{Canada-Anglican-bishop-stub