Sir William George Maxwell (9 June 1871 – 22 August 1959) was a British colonial administrator in

British Malaya The term "British Malaya" (; ) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British Empire, British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. Unlike the ...

and the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements () were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under control of the ...

.OxfordDNB
Entry for ''Maxwell, Sir (William) George''
Retrieved 9 January 2014

Biography

He was the eldest son of Sir

William Edward Maxwell Sir William Edward Maxwell, (5 August 1846 – 14 December 1897) was a British colonial official who served as colonial secretary of the Straits Settlements and governor of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast, then a British colony. Ea ...

and Lilias Grant Mackay. George Maxwell entered the service of

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

's government as a junior officer in 1891. He then progressed to Assistant District Magistrate and Registrar of Courts in Kinta Valley (Perak). He was also the Assistant Secretary to the Government of Perak, Acting Collector of Land Revenue in Larut, Registrar of Titles and Warden of Mines in Northern Perak and Acting Senior Magistrate for

Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the e ...

, Negeri Sembilan, and

. In 1904, he was transferred to the Civil Service of

and was acting Commissioner of the

Court of Requests The Court of Requests was a minor equity court in England and Wales. It was instituted by King Richard III in his 1484 parliament. It first became a formal tribunal with some Privy Council elements under Henry VII, hearing cases from the poor ...

in Singapore. He was posted as the

District Officer The District Officer (abbreviated to D.O.), was a commissioned officer of one of the colonial governments of the British Empire, from the mid-1930s also a member of the Colonial Service of the United Kingdom, who was responsible for a District of ...

of Dinding,

, Solicitor General (1906). On 9 July 1909 the Bangkok Treaty, which was ratified by the British and

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

ese, made

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman (دار الأمان; Arabic for 'The Safe Abode') and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of ...

part of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

and he was then appointed British Adviser to Kedah (1909–1915) and (1918–1919). He was also the British Resident of Perak (1919–1920) and Chief Secretary of

Federated Malay States The Federated Malay States (FMS, , Jawi script, Jawi: ) was a federation of four protectorate, protected states in the Malay Peninsula — Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang — established in 1895 by the British government, and whi ...

(1920–1926). He served as one of the seven members of the

Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery The Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery (ACE) was a permanent committee of the League of Nations, inaugurated in 1933. It was the first permanent slavery committee of the League of Nations, which was founded after a decade of work addre ...

of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

from 1934 to 1939.

Marriage

Sir William George Maxwell married his cousin Florence Evelyn daughter of Walter F Stevenson on 28 August 1902 in St. Mary's Church, Hendon, Middlesex.

Contributions and honours

Maxwell Hill Bukit Larut is a hill resort in Malaysia located in the state of Perak, Malaysia, 10 kilometres southwest from Taiping, Perak, Taiping. It was established under the direction of British colonists in 1884 as a place of observation for tin mining a ...

in Taiping, Perak was named after him. On 29 November 1929, he opened the Sultan Idris Training College in Perak and making it the highest institution of learning exclusively for the Malays at that time. To remember his contributions in education SMK Maxwell (Maxwell School) in Kuala Lumpur was named after him. He was invested with Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(CMG) in 1915 and Knight Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(KBE) in 1924.

Sources and references

WorldStatesmen – Malaysia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, George 1871 births 1959 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George History of Perak Administrators in British Malaya Colonial Administrative Service officers