John Maclean

John Maclean was a Scottish landowner and merchant who made his fortune in Sweden working as a merchant and financier.

John Maclean, also known as Hans Macklier, Johan Macklier, and John Hans Makeléer, was the son of Hector MacLean, 5th Lord of Duart, and was born at the family's ancestral home at Duart Castle on Mull. He was an officer in the Royal Navy, but in the 1620’s he left Scotland and went to the Swedish city of Gothenberg, probably to work for his uncle who had already established a business there. In 1629 he married Anna Gubbertz, whith whom he had fifteen children.

Eventually, John became a leading merchant of Gothenberg, and had played an important part in building Gothenberg into the commercial center it became. He also served as a member of the Gothenburg trade council. For his role as a personal banker to Queen Christina (r. 1632-1654), in 1649 John was made a Lord in the Swedish nobility.