He was born in
Ormiston,
East Lothian (east of
Edinburgh), on 7 October 1782, the son of John McLaren, a farmer, and his wife, Christian Muckle. Charles received his education at
Fala and
Colinton, but he was also partly
self-taught. Around 1797, he moved to Edinburgh, where he served as a clerk and bookkeeper for several firms, he joined the Philomathic Debating Society, where he made the acquaintance of brothers
John and
William Ritchie. Financed by John Ritchie, he established the
Scotsman, 26 January 1817, with William Ritchie and John M'Diarmid, and was joint editor of the first few numbers. When he obtained a position as a clerk in the custom house, he yielded the editorial chair to
John Ramsay M'Culloch. In 1820, Maclaren resumed the editorship and held it till 1846, when he resigned it to
Alexander Russel. The paper rapidly became the leading political journal of Scotland; its tone was throughout decidedly
Whiggish, and in church matters it advocated much freedom of opinion. In 1822 Maclaren was the first person to successfully identify the correct position of the lost city of Troy, in his
Dissertation on the Topography of the Plain of Troy. In the 1830s
Charles Maclaren of the Scotsman newspaper is listed as living at 58 George Square on the south side of the city. The property is a double level flat over 57 George Square. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1837. His proposer was Sir
Thomas Dick Lauder. In 1846 he was elected a Fellow of the
Geological Society of London (FGS), and he was President of the
Edinburgh Geological Society from 1864 to his death. He retired in 1860 and died at home at Moreland Cottage on Grange Loan, Edinburgh, 10 September 1866. He was interred very close to his home at the
Grange Cemetery. His monument is a large Celtic cross facing the north path. ==Publications==