British aristocrat and politician from Barnes, Surrey, who inherited the title 2nd Baron Aberconway (1934). He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford University and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn (1903) entitling him to practice as a Barrister-at-Law. He was Justice of the Peace for Denbighshire, Liberal Member of Parliament for West Staffordshire (1906-1910), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1908-1910) and Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Bosworth (1910-1922). A keen horticulturalist, he became president of the Royal Horticultural Society (1931-1953).

Lord Aberconway was the main creator of the gardens at Bodnant in Denbighshire where he specialised in the genera Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia. The garden had been inherited through the family of his mother Laura McLaren, née Pochin, and partly developed by her. It was further developed by his son Charles Melville McLaren, 3rd Baron Aberconway, who was President of the Royal Horticultural Society (1961-1984). Though not a collector of herbarium specimens, H.D. McLaren employed native collectors in China (1932-1938), who had earlier worked with George Forrest, resulting in the herbarium material incorrectly attributed to him. Material at BM is usually labelled as 'McLaren's Native Collectors'.