[1] MacLean was born in Hunterville, New Zealand, on 4 November 1881 to mother Julia Williamson and father Finlay McLean.

[2]From August 1914 to March 1915, MacLean was part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force that served in German occupied Samoa.

[3] She set sail to Apia, Samoa onboard the SS Monowai in August 1914 to replace German nurses.

[6] She worked at the Egyptian Army Hospital, Abbassieh, running the infectious diseases isolation unit.

Returning to her old role in Auckland in 1930, MacLean worked at hospitals throughout the Wellington region and then moved to Adelaide where she became the matron at the Truby King Mothercraft Society.