John Robinson McClean CB FRS FRSA FRAS (21 March 1813 – 13 July 1873), was a British civil engineer and Liberal Party politician.

Despite their recommendations being overruled, McClean's contributions highlight the significant engineering debates and considerations in the canal's early history.

Earlier, when apprenticed to a firm of civil engineers in London, he had prepared surveys and detailed drawings for the Victoria Embankment and the new Westminster Bridge.

[3] McClean became aware of the dreadful state of Walsall's water supply; cholera and typhoid outbreaks took place there at regular intervals.

McClean observed that Lichfield's water was clean and pure; he secured the agreement of some powerful friends, including the Earl of Dudley, and the South Staffordshire Waterworks Company was formed in 1853.

[4] He unsuccessfully stood for Parliament as a Liberal Party candidate for Belfast at the 1857 general election,[5] the second time he had been rejected by his native town.

Through Frank, their descendants include Francis McClean, Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington, and the twelfth and subsequent Eliott baronets.