John Ferguson McLennan

John Ferguson McLennan FRSE LLD (14 October 1827 – 16 June 1881), was a Scottish advocate, social anthropologist and ethnologist. Life He was born in Inverness, the son of John McLennan, an insurance agent, and his wife, Jessie Ross. He was educated in that city, then studied law at King's College, Aberdeen, graduating M.A. in 1849. He then entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where in 1853 he obtained a Wrangler's place (first class) in the Mathematical Tripos. He left Cambridge without taking a degree there. McLennan then spent two years in London writing for The Leader, at that time edited by George Henry Lewes, and other periodicals. He may well have attended one of the Inns of Court. During this period he knew George Eliot and William Michael Rossetti, and dabbled in verse in the Pre-Raphaelite style.