Raymond McClean
{{short description|Northern Irish politician}}
{{for|American footballers|Ray McLean|Ray McLean (fullback)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = John Raymond McClean
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|01|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = Coleraine, Northern Ireland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|01|29|1933|01|16|df=y}}
| death_place = Derry, Northern Ireland
| education = {{hlist|St Columb's College | Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland}}
| nationality = Irish
| occupation = Military physician, General practitioner
| spouse = Sheila McClean
| children = 2
}}
Raymond McClean (16 January 1933 – 29 January 2011) was an Irish nationalist politician and physician from Northern Ireland.
McClean was born in Coleraine but moved to Derry with his parents when he was six. His father had been in the Royal Air Force but ran a pub in Derry. McClean studied at St Columb's College, Derry and then proceeded to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, where he qualified as a medical doctor in 1958. He then followed his father and enrolled in the Royal Air Force but left after a year and returned to Derry where he worked as a general practitioner and also acted as club doctor to Derry City F.C. and local amateur boxing clubs.{{cite news |last1=Ryder |first1=Chris |title=Raymond McClean obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/mar/16/raymond-mcclean-obituary |access-date=27 June 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=16 March 2011}}
Concerns about the poor housing conditions in the city led him to join the civil rights movement. He was present at Bloody Sunday.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12325099 "Tributes paid to Dr Raymond McClean"], BBC News, 31 January 2011. Later in life, McClean wrote about Bloody Sunday and the events leading up to it, holding a special interest in the long-term effects of the use of CS Gas.
In 1973, he was elected for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) to Londonderry City Council, and was immediately elected as first nationalist mayor of the city since 1923.Paddy Devlin, Straight Left, p. 194 He held his seat on Londonderry City Council at the 1977 election, but did not stand in 1981.[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/73-81lgderry.htm Local Government Elections 1973–1981: Londonderry], Northern Ireland Elections
In the early 1980s, he worked as a medical volunteer in Ethiopia.{{cite book |last1=McClean |first1=Raymond |title=A Cross Shared |date=1988 |publisher=Donegal democrat |location=Ballyshannon |pages=118 |ol=1044915M |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1044915M/A_cross_shared |access-date=27 June 2022}}
He died in 2011, and was survived by his wife Sheila, son Sean, and daughter Sheila.
Publications
McClean authored two books, The Road to Bloody Sunday, and A Cross Shared, and jointly authored a report providing medical perspectives on the deaths of some marchers on Bloody Sunday.
After treating more than 200 cases of CS gas exposure, he had a letter to the British Medical Journal published, on the effects of CS gas use in the Bogside, during The Troubles in Derry.{{cite journal | url= | title=Riot-Control Agents: Personal Experience | author=McClean, Raymond | journal=Br Med J | year=1969 | volume=3 | issue=5671 | pages=652–653 | doi=10.1136/bmj.3.5671.652-a| pmid=5811686 | pmc=1984446 }}
- The Road to Bloody Sunday, ({{ISBNT|978-0946451371}} Poolbeg Press, 1983), (Revised Edition, Guildhall Press, 1997)
:: A biography and personal memoir that detailed his experience during Bloody Sunday in Derry. It was firstly published for the 25th anniversary of the march.{{cite journal | url=http://journals.chapman.edu/ojs/index.php/VocesNovae/article/view/52/194 | title=How White Was the Wash?: Bloody Sunday, 1972, and Memory in the Creation of the Widgery Report | author=Ganderup, Sarah | journal=Voces Novae: Chapman University Historical Review | year=2010 | volume= 2 | issue= 2}}
- A Cross Shared, (Donegal Democrat, 1988)
:: Details McCleans experiences working as a Concern volunteer doctor in famine struck Ethiopia in the early 1980s. ({{OL book|id=1044915M|cname=A cross shared}})
- Bloody Sunday : the Breglio Report Robert J Breglio, Don Mullan, Raymond McClean. ({{OCLC|60456684}} Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, 1997)
:: Provided medical and ballistics analyses of the shooting of 3 of the marchers on the day.{{cite web | url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/irgovt1.htm | title=Bloody Sunday and the Report of the Widgery Tribunal – Summary and Significance of New Material | publisher= University of Ulster. | work=CAIN | accessdate=30 April 2016}}
References
External links
- [http://www.derryjournal.com/news/dr-raymond-mcclean-was-a-hero-of-derry-1-2368776 Dr Raymond McClean was ‘a hero of Derry’] The Derry Journal.
- [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/mar/16/raymond-mcclean-obituary Raymond McClean obituary] Guardian News and Media Limited.
- [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dr-raymond-mcclean-doctor-who-joined-ulsters-civil-rights-movement-and-later-became-mayor-of-derry-2220590.html Dr Raymond McClean: Doctor who joined Ulster's civil rights movement and later became mayor of Derry] The Independent.
- [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/mcclean.htm Extracts from 'The Road to Bloody Sunday', by Dr. Raymond McClean]
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{{s-vac|last=William Beatty
(1968–1969)}}
{{s-ttl
|title=Mayor of Londonderry
|years=1973–1974
}}
{{s-aft|after=Jack Allen}}
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{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClean, Raymond}}
Category:People educated at St Columb's College
Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Category:Councillors in Derry (city)
Category:General practitioners from Northern Ireland
Category:Royal Air Force Medical Service officers
Category:Social Democratic and Labour Party politicians