John Maclean (Scottish Socialist) - Nan Milton

Nan Milton

Without the tireless work of Maclean's daughter, Nan Milton, the memory of her father might have been lost. It was not just that she helped found the John MacLean Society and served as its Secretary, she made the revival possible. At a time when no one was interested, she copied out all her father's writings from his own and other publications in the National Library and typed them up. That was how Hugh MacDiarmid read his works and then championed his ideas. Her first husband wrote a biography of MacLean and lent the only copy of the ms. to the West Indian Socialist CLR James, who left it on a London Tube train. Nan painstakingly reconstructed it for her own biography. Her devotion was remarkable because she hardly knew her father. He became separated from his wife and family when she was an infant because he had time for nothing except work.