McCLtTRE, ma-kloor', Alexaxdeb Kelly (182«— ). An American journalist. He was born at Sherman's Valley, Perry County, Pa., and after receiving a good elementar}- education was apprenticed to a tanner at the age of fifteen. While at work at his trade he began contributing to tlie columns of the Perry Freeman. When scarcely nineteen (in 184()) he began, and. with the aid of a single assistant, continued the publication of the Juniata Sentinel, a Whig paper, at iliftiin. Pa. In 1850 he bought an interest in the Chambers- burg lU'positori/, which, under his management, became one of the most inlluential anti-slavery papers in the region. In 18.53 he was the un- successful Whig candidate for Auditor-General, in 1855 was State superintendent of printing, and in the same year was a member of the State convention that met at Pittsburg to organize the new Republican part.v in Pennsylvania. In 185G he was a delegate to the first National Repub- lican Convention at Philadelphia, and in the same year left newsjjaper work and was ad- mitted to the bar. In 1857-58 he was a Re- publican member of the State Legislature, and 171 1859 was elected to the State Senate. In the Republican National Convention of 1860 he led the Pennsylvania delegates who deserted Simon Cameron for Lincoln, and afterward, as chairman of the State Committee, carried Pennsylvania for the latter. In 1862, as a special assistant adjii- tant-general, he had charge of the draft in Penn- sylvania, and in 1864 he was reelected to the State Legislature. In 1872 he led the Liberal Repub- lican revolt in Pennsylvania, was chairman of that faction's Campaign Committee, and was elected as an independent to the State Senate. He was defeated as independent candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia in 187.3 by scarcely 000 votes. He retired from active politics in 1875 and established the Philadelphia Times, of which he was editor until 1001. His publications in- clude: Three Thousand Miles Throiicih the Rock;/ Mountains : Our Presidents and How We Make Them (1001) ; Recollections of Half a Century (19021.
McCIiURE, Alexander Wilson (1808-65).
An American clergj'man. He was born in Bos-
ton, was educated at Amherst College and at
Andover Theological Seminary. Having filled
pastorates of various Congregational churches
and of the First Reformed Church, .Jersey City,
he became in 1855 corresponding secretary of the
American and Foreign Christian Union, and in
1856 chaplain of that society in Rome. Italy.
The American Chapel in Paris was erected with
funds obtained by him. He was editor of the
Christian Ohserratori/ and also contributed to the
AVio Brunstrick Revieu' and the Literarji and
Theoloflieal Rerieic. He published a ninnber of
controversial works and The Translators Re-
viewed, .giving biographical sketches of the trans-
lators of the King .lames Version (1853).
McCLTJRE, Sir Robert John le JIesitsiee
(1S07-73). An English Arctic explorer, who was
first to pass through the Northwest Passage. He
was born at Wexford, Ireland, studied at Eton
and Sandhurst, and in 1824 entered the navy. In
1836-37 he was mate in the Arctic expedition of
H.M.S. Terror. Captain Back, and in 1837 re-
ceived his commission as a lieutenant. From
1842 to 1846 he was in command of the Romnet),
receiving-ship at Havana. He joined Sir James
C. Ross's first expedition in search of Franklin in
1848, and upon its return in 1840 was promoted
to the rank of commander. Almost immediately
upon his return from the first expedition it was
decided to dispatch the same two vessels, the
Enterprise and the Inresliiialor, upon a .sec-
ond expedition which should proceed by way of
Bering Strait. JleClure was ajipointed to the
command of the Investigator, with Captain Col-
lins, commanding the Enterprise, as senior
officer of the expedition. The Investigator,
with a crew of sixty-six, was provisioned for
three years. On January 20, 1850, the vessels
set sail, but on April 16th were separated by a
gale. The Investigator continued northward,
and became finally fi.xed in the ice of Prince of
Wales's Strait, in latitude 72° 50' N., and longi-
tude 117° 55' W. The winter of 1850-55 was
passed on the northern shore of Banks I^and,
in a bay named by ilcClure the Bay of Mercy.
Here the ship remained blocked throughout 1852,
but on April 0, 1853, was reached from Mel-
ville Island by Lieutenant Pirn of the Reso-
lute. The season was again unfavorable, and a
fourth winter was spent in the Arctic. At last,
in the spring of 1854, ilcClure and his crew were
rescued by ilcClintock, who had come from the
opposite direction, and in September they arrived
in England, althougli not in their own ship, hav-
ing accomplished the traverse of the Northwest
Passage, the discovery of which had been a great
goal of Arctic exploration. JlcClnre was pro-
moted to be cajitain. was knighted, and was ap-
pointed to command the Esk of the Pacific
Squadron. He returned in 1861. in 1867 was pro-
moted to be rear-admiral, and in 1873 was ap-
pointed vice-admiral on the retired list. The
honor of having first discovered the Northwest
Passage has been claimed by many for Sir .lolm
Franklin.
McCLURG, Alexaxder Caldwell ( 1835-
lOOl). An American publisher, born in Phila-
delphia. He graduated at iliami L'niversity,
Oxford, Ohio, in 1853, and became associated
with the publishing firm of S. C. Griggs & Co. at
Chicago. In 1862 he entered the Union Army as
a captain in the Eighty-eighth Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, was made a colonel and brevet brigadier-
general, and served through the Atlanta camjiaign
and Sherman's march to the sea as chief of staff of
the Fourteenth Army Corps. After the war lie
became a partner in the Griggs publishing house,
and after a few vears organized the firm of Jan-
sen. McClurg & Co., later A. C. ilcClurg & Co.,
which became one of the most prosperous pul)lish-
ing houses in America. In 1800, after the de-
struction of the establishment by fire, he re-
organized the company on the basis of industrial
coiipcration, distributed much of the stock to the
employees, and permitted them to buy more on
easy terms.
McCLY'MONT, James Alexander (184S— ).
An English bililical scholar, born at Girvnn,
Ayrshire, and educated at Girvan Grannnar
School, at Ayr Academy. Edinburgh University,
and Tiibingen. In 1874 he became minister of
Holburn Parish, Aberdeen, and he served as a
member of the general committee of the Ctnirch
of Scotland. He was one of the translators of
Beck's Pastoral Theology of the Xcir Testament ;
and wrote: The Xeir Testament and Its Writers
(1892) ; a volume in the Century Bible on Saint
