George Maxwell (colonial administrator) explained

Sir George Maxwell
Order:Chief Secretary to the Government of the FMS
Term Start:1920
Term End:1926
Predecessor:Sir Edward Lewis Brockman
Successor:Sir William Peel
Order1:British Resident of Perak
Term Start1:1919
Term End1:1920
Predecessor1:Sir Reginald George Watson
Successor1:Sir William James Parke Hume
Order2:British Adviser for Kedah
Term Start2:1909
Term End2:1915
Predecessor2:none, post created
Term Start3:1918
Term End3:1919
Predecessor3:G.A. Hall
Successor3:Malcolm Stewart Hannibal McArthur
Birth Date:9 June 1871
Birth Place:Malacca, Straits Settlements
Death Place:Shoreham, Sussex, England
Mother:Lilias Grant Mackay
Father:Sir William Edward Maxwell
Religion:Christian-->

Sir William George Maxwell (9 June 1871 – 22 August 1959) was a British colonial administrator in British Malaya and the Straits Settlements.[1]

Biography

He was the eldest son of Sir William Edward Maxwell and Lilias Grant Mackay.

George Maxwell entered the service of Perak'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, Negeri Sembilan, and Perak. In 1904, he was transferred to the Civil Service of Straits Settlements and was acting Commissioner of the Court of Requests in Singapore.

He was posted as the District Officer of Dinding, Perak, Solicitor General (1906). On 9 July 1909 the Bangkok Treaty, which was ratified by the British and Siamese, made Kedah part of the British Empire 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 (1920–1926).

He served as one of the seven members of the Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery of the League of Nations from 1934 to 1939.[2]

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 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 (CMG) in 1915 and Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1924.

Sources and references

Notes and References

  1. OxfordDNB: Entry for Maxwell, Sir (William) George. Retrieved 9 January 2014
  2. Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. USA: AltaMira Press.