Born in Moscow in 1887, McCleland came up to Pembroke from Charterhouse in 1906. He read Mathematics and latterly Natural Sciences and went on to carry out research work in Chemistry. He was an active member of the Cambridge University Officers' Training Corps and was attached to the Queen's Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment at the outbreak of the First World War. In March 1916 he was seconded to the Director of Gas Services as a Chemical Adviser to the XIII Corps and later the Third Army. In April 1918 he was transferrred to the Chemical Warfare Experimental Station at Porton. He returned to Cambridge after the War and was elected a Fellow of Pembroke College where he went on to hold the position of Bursar. He was also a great lover of music and composed a large number pieces. He died in 1933 as a result of a cycling accident.