# George Frederick Maclear

**George Frederick Maclear** (3 February 1833 – 19 October 1902) was an English theological writer, headmaster, and Anglican clergyman who served as headmaster of King's College School, London, and as warden of St Augustine's Missionary College, Canterbury, from 1880 until his death. The [Dictionary of National Biography](https://www.edgepedia.org/dictionary-of-national-biography) identifies him simply as a theological writer and records no episcopal appointment, and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry (G. Le G. Norgate, revised by H. C. G. Matthew, published online 23 September 2004) titles him "writer on theology".<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34784)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 February 1833 at Bedford, eldest son of the Rev. George Maclear, chaplain of Bedford county prison (1832–69), and Isabella Ingle<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> |
| Education | Scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1852; Carus Greek Testament prize 1854 and 1855; second class classical tripos 1855; first class theological tripos 1856, its first year<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> |
| Degrees | M.A. 1860, B.D. 1867, D.D. 1872; deacon 1856, priest 1857<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> |
| Headmaster | King's College School, London, 1867–80, after six years as assistant master; doubled the school's numbers<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> |
| Declined a bishopric | Refused the offer of the see of Colombo in 1875 while headmaster<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> |
| Final post | Warden of St Augustine's Missionary College, Canterbury, 1880–1902; honorary canon of Canterbury Cathedral from 1885<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> |
| Died | 19 October 1902 at St Augustine's College after a long illness; buried in St Martin's churchyard, Canterbury<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> |

## Early life and education

Maclear was born at Bedford on 3 February 1833, the eldest son of the Rev. George Maclear, M.A., who served as chaplain of Bedford county prison from 1832 to 1869, and his wife Isabella Ingle. The astronomer Thomas Maclear, Astronomer Royal at the [Cape of Good Hope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cape-of-good-hope), was not his father; his father was the Bedford prison chaplain.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup>

At [Trinity College, Cambridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/trinity-college-cambridge), he won a scholarship in 1852, the Carus Greek Testament prize in both 1854 and 1855, a second class in the classical tripos of 1855, and a first class in the theological tripos of 1856, the year that examination was first held. He proceeded M.A. in 1860, B.D. in 1867, and D.D. in 1872.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup>

## Ministry and teaching career

**Ordination and early posts.** Maclear was ordained deacon in 1856 and priest in 1857. He served as curate of Clopton, Bedfordshire, from 1856 to 1858, then at St Barnabas, Kennington, from 1858 to 1860. From 1860 to 1865 he was assistant-preacher at Curzon Chapel, Mayfair, and from 1865 to 1870 reader at the Temple. He was select preacher at Cambridge in 1868, 1880, and 1886, at Oxford in 1881–2, and Ramsden preacher at Cambridge in 1890.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup>

**King's College School.** He was an assistant master at King's College School, London, from 1860 to 1866 and headmaster from 1867 to 1880. The DNB credits him with great ability as teacher and organizer: he doubled the numbers of the school and greatly raised its standing.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup>

**A declined bishopric.** In 1875, while still headmaster, he declined an offer of the see of Colombo. In 1880 he accepted instead the wardenship of St Augustine's Missionary College, Canterbury, and held it until his death, working as preacher, lecturer, and adviser on foreign mission work.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup>

## Writings and theology

Maclear was a prolific writer. He gained the Burney prize in 1855, the Hulsean in 1857, the Maitland in 1858 and 1861, and the Norrisian in 1863, and all five prize essays were published.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> His 1858 Maitland essay, *The Christian Statesman and our Indian Empire*, reached a second edition; the 1861 Maitland essay on Christian missions during the Middle Ages was recast as *Apostles of Mediaeval Europe* (1869), the first of a series of volumes on missionary history.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup> The full title under which the medieval missions work circulated, *A History of Christian Missions During the Middle Ages*, opens with a chapter on "The Mission Field of the Middle Ages" and is now freely available in digitized form.<sup>[3](https://www.gospelstudies.org.uk/medievalchurch/book_medieval-missions_maclear.php)</sup>

**Textbooks and liturgical manuals.** His Class Books of Old and New Testament History (1862) and the Class Book of the [Catechism](https://www.edgepedia.org/catechism) (1868) were long in general use; the [New Testament](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-testament) history volume runs to 595 pages and survives in a public-domain [Internet Archive](https://www.edgepedia.org/internet-archive) scan.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://archive.org/details/aclassbooknewte00maclgoog)</sup> With Francis Procter he published *An Elementary Introduction to the Book of Common Prayer* (1868) and *The Baptismal Office and the Order of Confirmation* (1902). He also wrote *The Conversion of the West* (4 volumes, 1878), *St Augustine's, Canterbury: its Rise, Ruin, and Restoration* (1888), and *An Introduction to the Articles* with Watkin Wynn Williams (1895; new edition 1909), contributed the missions article to the ninth edition of the *Encyclopædia Britannica*, and wrote for Smith's Dictionaries of Christian Antiquities and Christian Biography, and Cassell's *Bible Educator*.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup>

**Sacramental and biblical work.** He delivered the Boyle lectures at [Whitehall](https://www.edgepedia.org/whitehall) in 1879–80, published as *On the Evidential Value of the Holy Eucharist* (1883; 4th edition 1898), and edited portions of the Cambridge Bible for Schools, including *The Gospel According to St Mark: with Maps, Notes and Introduction* (1892), with sections on the life of St Mark, the circumstances of the Gospel's composition, and its characteristics.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/book_mark-cbfs_maclear.html)</sup> After his death, *Lectures on Pastoral Theology*, a selection from his unpublished manuscripts, was edited by the Rev. R. J. E. Boggis, D.D., in 1904.<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup>

Maclear's churchmanship cannot be assigned to a party label of Evangelical, High Church, or Broad Church. The pattern of his work, a Boyle lecture defending the [Eucharist](https://www.edgepedia.org/eucharist), liturgical manuals with the Prayer Book scholar Francis Procter, and a lifetime post at a missionary college, is the closest available indication of it, and readers should treat it as indirect rather than conclusive.

## Warden of St Augustine's, later life, and death

As warden of St Augustine's Missionary College, Canterbury, from 1880, Maclear trained candidates for foreign mission work and preached and lectured on mission topics. He was made an honorary canon of [Canterbury Cathedral](https://www.edgepedia.org/canterbury-cathedral) in 1885. He died at St Augustine's College after a long illness on 19 October 1902 and was buried in St Martin's churchyard, [Canterbury](https://www.edgepedia.org/canterbury).<sup>[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)</sup>

Surviving manuscript material is held under The National Archives name authority reference GB/NNAF/P157486 and includes notebooks from the 1890s, letters to E. W. Benson dated 1884–96, and letters to A. C. Tait dated 1871–81.<sup>[6](https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F63321)</sup>

## References

1. [Maclear, George Frederick, Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement (Wikisource)](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography%2C_1912_supplement/Maclear%2C_George_Frederick)
2. [Maclear, George Frederick (1833–1902), writer on theology, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34784)
3. [George Frederick Maclear, A History of Christian Missions During the Middle Ages, gospelstudies.org.uk](https://www.gospelstudies.org.uk/medievalchurch/book_medieval-missions_maclear.php)
4. [A Class-Book of New Testament History, Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/aclassbooknewte00maclgoog)
5. [George Frederick Maclear, The Gospel According to St Mark (Cambridge Bible for Schools, 1892), biblicalstudies.org.uk](https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/book_mark-cbfs_maclear.html)
6. [Maclear, George Frederick (1833–1902), The National Archives name authority](https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F63321)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Philosophy, religion, and mythology › Religion and spirituality › Religious biographies › Christian theologians and religious scholars › Modern theologians by confession and tradition › Anglican theologians*

*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*

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