Duncan McLaren

Duncan McLaren (12 January 1800 – 26 April 1886) was a Scottish Liberal Party politician and political writer. He served as a member of the burgh council of Edinburgh, then as Lord Provost, then as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Edinburgh constituency. Life Born in Renton, Dunbartonshire, Duncan McLaren was the youngest of ten children of John McLaren and Catherine McLellan. Apart from two years of schooling, he was self-taught. After school, he was apprenticed to a merchant in Dunbar. In 1824, he set up his own business as a draper in Edinburgh, growing the store into one if Britain's first department stores. In the 1830s, he headed the Scottish Central Board of Dissenters, established in 1834. McLaren became a member of the town council in 1833. He became treasurer in 1837 and found that the royal burgh's finances were in ruin and that the Scottish capital was bankrupt. His work extricated Edinburgh from financial ruin. In 1835, he pioneered free education for all classes and started a building programme of thirteen schools.