Duncan (and Andrew) McLean
Duncan McLean has several distinctions. One is that he is thought to be the first footballer to feature on a cigarette card. But then he was a full-back of repute, notably on Merseyside, first with Everton. In fact there he did a right-back swap with Andrew Hannah, he returning to Renton, hometown to both. Furthermore, McLean would arrive to win the 1891 League title, followed by the departure of Everton from Anfield and the formation of Liverpool, yet with our man choosing to stay on. He was in Liverpool's first team ever. He was one on the Team of the Macs, now at left-back and a returned Hannah on the the right. He would also be in Liverpool's first League team ever and that which saw it promoted in 1894.
Duncan Mclean was born in 1868. Andrew, his brother, later a professional also with Renton but never in England, was ten years his junior. They were the sons of locally-born Dye Field labourer and his Glasgow wife. Four years younger than Andrew Hannah the elder McLean grew up in footballing terms somewhat in his shadow and confined mostly to the reserve team. That is until 1888 and the raiding of the first eleven by clubs down South and the formation of Celtic, Hannah being one of the first to go. It allowed McLean to step up beside Archie McCall, show what he could do but not yet win a Scotland cap. That would come later, when, after five years at Anfield, two with The Blues and three with The Reds, in 1895 he returned North, but to Edinburgh and St. Bernards, there to be finally recognised by his country, not once but twice, in 1896 and 1897.
In part the return may have been because of marriage with Catherine Fox that same year. It took place in Alexandria, she being from there. And they were to have four children, three boys and a girl. However, Catherine was in 1907 to die, by which time Duncan had returned home, footballing career over. He had retired at thirty, was back working in the dye-fields and was soon to remarry and within the local and footballing community. His second wife would be Jane Kelso, the widow of James and the sister-in-law of fellow international, Bob Kelso.
Jane McLean would bring a step-daughter into the family. She and Duncan would have a further son of their own and live out the rest of their lives within a few streets in the south of the village. Duncan would die in 1941 at the age of seventy-three and be buried in Milburn Cemetery alongside his first wife. Jane would join him, them in 1952, her passing in Old Kilpatrick.
Birth Locator:
1868 - Back St., Renton, Dunbartonshire
Residence Locations:
1871 - 31, Back St., Renton, Dunbartonshire
1881 - 31, Back St., Renton, Dunbartonshire
1891 - N/A
1895 - 26, Lennox St., Renton, Dunbartonshire
1901 - 5, Lennox St., Renton, Dunbartonshire
1908-11 - 7, John St., Renton, Dunbartonshire
1921 - 45, Leven St., Renton, Dunbartonshire
1941 - 20, Lennox St., Renton Dunbartonshire
Death Locator:
1941 - 20, Lennox St., Renton, Dunbartonshire
Burial Locator:
Milburn Churchyard, Renton, Dunbartonshire
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