Archibald Woodbury McLelan was born on December 20, 1824, in Londonderry, Nova Scotia.

He was a shipbuilder, shipowner, and politician. He was educated in Great Village, Nova Scotia, and Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy in Sackville, New Brunswick before joining his father's shipping and retail business. McLelan went into partnership with his brother-in-law, John M. Blaikie, with whom he built ships on the Great Village River into the early 1880s. Upon his father's death in 1858, he succeeded him in the House of Assembly. Strongly opposed to Confederation, he was elected as the first federal member of parliament for Colchester as an Anti-Confederate. In 1869, he reconciled himself to Confederation and was summoned to the Senate of Canada where he sat as a Liberal-Conservative. He resigned from the Upper House to run again for the House of Commons of Canada in the 1881 federal election and was returned to parliament as a Conservative. He served as the Minister of Finance from 1885 to 1887 in the second administration of Sir John A. Macdonald. Following this position, he became postmaster general and was responsible for introducing the parcel post system into Canada. From 1888 to 1890, he served as the 6th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.

In 1854, he married Caroline Metzler (1832–1918). He died on June 26, 1890, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.