Dates

• Existence: 1822 - 1907

Biography

Allan McLean was one of the children of Mary McLean and Alexander McLean, a farmer-fisherman who lived on and drowned off Lagmor, a town on the Inner Hebridean Island of Coll. In 1840 Mary brought her family to Australia where the brothers, John, Allan and Robertson prospered as carriers, merchants and gold-buyers. In 1852 they took up a run near Christchurch. After the sale of his land in the 1890s, Allan McLean settled in Christchurch. He lived on Colombo Street at Holly Lea, also known as McLean's Mansion. He stated in his will that his house was to be used "as a home for gentlewomen or women of refinement or education in reduced or straitened circumstances." Over the past century, the McLean Institute has provided homes to hundreds of women.

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