Major Charles Hector Fitzroy Maclean, Lord Maclean KT GCVO KBE PC Mentioned in Dispatches

Campaign:

World War 2

Died:

8.2.1990

Maclean was born on 5 May 1916 in London, to Major Hector Fitzroy Maclean (1873–1932) and Winifred Joan Wilding (c1875-1941), daughter of J. H. Wilding.He succeeded as the 27th Chief of Clan Maclean of Duart in 1936 at the death of his grandfather, Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 10th Baronet. He married (Joan) Elizabeth Mann (1923–2021), granddaughter of Sir Edward Mann, 1st Baronet, of Thelveton Hall in 1941. They had two children and eight grandchildren

He saw active service in World War II while serving in the 3rd Battalion Scots Guards.
When Lord Maclean was a young man, he joined the Supplementary Reserve, which was the Territorial Army equivalent of the Brigade of Guards. Any young man wishing to obtain a commission in the Guards before the Second World War who didn’t attend Sandhurst was required to be a member of the Supplementary Reserve.1d On the 21st of February in 1936, he was granted a commission in the Scots Guards as a Second Lieutenant.2 He was quickly attached to the First Battalion and began training at the Tower of London which lasted two years.1d

War was declared with Germany on the 2nd of September in 1939 and Lord Maclean’s unit was mobilized not long after. He served in the British Army for 10 years before retiring as a major.1d Lord Maclean took part in the Invasion of Normandy, landing a few weeks after D-Day when conditions had been established to handle the Churchill tanks of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. Within days of arriving in France, Lord Maclean’s unit would be in one of the bloodiest introductions to the second front at Caumont.1d Most of his service was with the 3rd Battalion of the Scots Guards.

Lord Charles Maclean in Normandy shortly after D-Day
Lord Charles Maclean in Normandy shortly after D-Day
Lord Maclean made a practice of going wherever he needed his men to go. Though he was in charge of a headquarters battalion, he was often seen heading to or from the front lines ensuring the men in the thick of the fighting were well supplied. On one occasion Lord Maclean was posted as “Missing Believed Killed” while on a scouting mission.1e

On the 22nd of March in 1945 Lord Maclean was mentioned in the Dispatches.1f The citation reads: “Major Sir Charles Maclean Commanded HQ Squadron of the 3rd Tank Battalion throughout the campaign from Normandy to the end of the war. In this capacity it was his duty to bring up the supplies to the tanks from A Echelon. He always came up personally with the Transport and never failed to deliver all that was required in every situation. Even when flooding necessitated the use of amphibious transport, supplies were delivered by him as regularly as usual. His organizing ability and his skillful and energetic leadership contributed very largely to the maintenance of the fighting efficiency of the Battalion.”

By the war’s end, Lord Maclean had fought in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.He fought in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. After the war ended he became a sheep and cattle farmer in Scotland. He was Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire from 1954 to 1975

The Boy Scouts Association appointed Maclean as its Chief Scout of the United Kingdom from 1959 to 1971 and Commonwealth from 1959 to August 1975.- He oversaw the formation of his Advance Party and its The Chief Scout's Advance Party Report which resulted in sweeping changes to the Boy Scouts Association and disaffection and schisms but failed to arrest enrolment losses and shifted the balance of enrolments to younger age children. The World Organization of the Scout Movement’s committee awarded him its only distinction, the Bronze Wolf in 1967, for exceptional services to world Scouting.

He was created a life peer as Baron Maclean, of Duart and Morven in the County of Argyll in 1971. His first ceremonial assignment as Lord Chamberlain was the 1972 funeral of the Duke of Windsor. He was Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1984 and 1985.

He died on 8 February 1990 at Hampton Court Palace.