Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet

"Wigtownshire"
Maxwell as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, September 1893

The Monreith Cross from the Mochrum Justice Hill.

The Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell, 7th Baronet of Monreith, KT, PC, FRS,^[1] FRGS (8 January 1845 – 30 October 1937) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, artist,horticulturalist and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1906.^[2]

Early life

Maxwell was eldest surviving son of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Maxwell, 6th Baronet and his wife Helenora Shaw-Stewart, daughter of Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, 5th Baronet. He was educated at Eton, and at Christ Church, Oxford. He was a captain in the 4th batn. Royal Scots Fusiliers and a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant for Wigtownshire.^[3]

Political career

Maxwell was elected Member of Parliament for Wigtownshire in the 1880 general election and held the seat until 1906.^[4] He served in the Conservative administration of Lord Salisbury as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1886 to 1892 and was admitted to the Privy Council in 1897. He was Lord Lieutenant of Wigtown from 1903 to 1935.

He received an honorary doctorate (LL.D) from the University of Glasgow in June 1901.^[5]

Maxwell was President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1900-1913), and Chairman of the National Library of Scotland (1925–1932).^[6] He was the chairman of Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) from its inception in 1908 until 1934.

Marriage and issue

Maxwell married Mary Fletcher-Campbell, daughter of Henry Fletcher Campbell, of Boquhan, Stirling, on 20 January 1869. She predeceased him on 3 September 1910. By her, he had two sons and three daughters.

William Maxwell died in 1897 in South Africa

Beatrice married Mr Ernest Walker in St Margaret's Westminster in October 1901

Winifred married Alastair Graham-Moir of Leckie

• Ann Christian Maxwell (5 September 1871 – 5 April 1937), wife of Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet
• Lt. Col. Aymer Edward Maxwell, (26 October 1877 - died from wounds in World War I, 9 October 1914). Aymer Maxwell married Lady Mary Percy, daughter of Henry Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland and by her had one daughter and three sons one of which was naturalist and author, Gavin Maxwell.^[7]

Works

Novels

• Sir Lucian Elphin (1889),
• The Letter of the Law (1890),
• A Duke of Britain (1895),
• Chevalier of the Splendid Crest (1900),

Non Fiction

• Meridiana, Noontide Essays (1892)
• Scottish Land Names (1894)
• Afternoon Essays (1895)
• Rainy Days in a Library (1896)
• Sixty Years a Queen (1897)
• Bruce and the Struggle for Scottish Independence
• History of the House of Douglas-from the earliest times down to the legislative union of England and Scotland (1902)-introduced by William Lindsay, Windsor Herald
• Memories of the Months (7 series-1897 through to 1922)
• British Soldiers in the Field (1902)
• Story of the Tweed (1905)
• Scalacronica; The reigns of Edward I, Edward II and Edward III as Recorded by Sir Thomas Gray (1907)
• The Making of Scotland (1911)
• The Lanercost Chronicle (1913)

Also "Lives" of W.H. Smith, Wellington, Romney, etc.

References

1. Smith, W. W. (1938). "Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell. 1845-1937". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 2 (6): 387–326. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1938.0024.
2. "Sitter: Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell, 7th Bt. of Monreith (1845-1937)". Lafayette Negative Archive.
3. "Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886". Archive.org. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
4. Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Herbert Maxwell
5. "Glasgow University jubilee" The Times (London). Friday, 14 June 1901. (36481), p. 10.
6. Meikle, H. W. (January 2008). "Maxwell, Sir Herbert Eustace, seventh baronet (1845–1937)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
7. "''The Peerage''". Thepeerage.com. 1995-07-29. Retrieved 2014-06-18.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource 

External links

• Works by Herbert Maxwell at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Herbert Maxwell at Internet Archive