William (Maxwell) Maxwell of Monreith 3rd Bt. (abt. 1715 - 1771)

Born about 1715 in Monreith, Mochrum, Wigtownshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

William (Maxwell) Maxwell of Monreith 3rd Bt. is a member of Clan Maxwell.

The family seat is Monreith House, near Port William, Dumfries and Galloway.

• Sir William Maxwell, 1st Baronet (circa 1635–1709)

• Sir Alexander Maxwell, 2nd Baronet (d. 1730)

• Sir William Maxwell, 3rd Baronet (c. 1715–1771)

• Sir William Maxwell, 4th Baronet (d. 1812)

• Sir William Maxwell, 5th Baronet (1779–1838)

• Sir William Maxwell, 6th Baronet (1804–1877)

• Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet (1845–1937)

• Sir Aymer Maxwell, 8th Baronet (1911–1987)

• Sir Michael Eustace George Maxwell, 9th Baronet (b. 1943)

Extract from the Peerage:-

Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, 3rd Bt. was born circa 1715 at Monreith, Mochrum, Wigtownshire, Scotland.

He was the son of Sir Alexander Maxwell of Monreith, 2nd Bt. and Lady Jean Montgomerie. He married Magdalen Blair, daughter of William Blair and Catharine Tait, circa 1746. He died on 22 August 1771 at Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. He succeeded to the title of 3rd Baronet Maxwell, of Monreith, co. Wigton [N.S., 1681] on 23 May 1730. He lived at Monreith, Wigtownshire, Scotland. Child of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, 3rd Bt.

Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, 4th Bt.

Children of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, 3rd Bt. and Magdalen Blair:

1. Catharine Maxwell, married John Fordyce of Ayton, Esq., in Berwickshire.
2. Jane Maxwell, b. 1748, d. 14 April 1812, married Alexander, Duke of Gordon.
3. Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, 4 Bart., b. c.1751, d. 17 Feb. 1812.
4. Eglintoun Maxwell b. c.1754, d. 28 March 1803, married Sir Thomas Wallace Dunlop, Bart.
5. Hamilton Maxwell
6. Dunbar Maxwell

From a 1997 speech to the Clan Maxwell Society of the USA by Sir Michael Maxwell of Monreith

The Maxwell ancestor I would most like to meet was Lady Jane Maxwell. Born at Monreith in 1749, Jane was the fourth child of Sir William Maxwell and his wife Magdalene Blair. Monreith House was not built until fifty years later, so she would have been born in Myrton, the now ruined castle a short distance from the present house.

Her father, the third baronet, has been depicted as a drunk who allowed his family to exist in poverty in Edinburgh while he sold most of his estate to make ends meet. A fictitious novel even suggested that he owned a whisky still at Monreith. I have searched for it with no success! However, there is no evidence that Jane or her three sisters and two brothers were brought up in poverty. Their mother rented good accommodations in Edinburgh, and the daughters appear to have been educated to a high standard. They all made good marriages.

The Monreith Maxwells would have been considered a respectable family in that era. They were closely related to Maxwells at Caerlaverock, Earls of Nithsdale who in the 17th Century had been considered one of the most powerful families in Scotland. And their grandmother was the daughter of the 9th Earl of Eglinton, head of the great Ayrshire land owning family and distinguished member of Parliament.

It is true that Jane’s father was not particularly successful at running the 30,000 acres of good land and the rundown but attractive old castle which he had inherited. Agriculture was the only industry in Southwest Scotland, so prosperity was very much in the lap of the gods and weather. Sir William sold some of his outlying acreage when his financial fortunes waned, but he repurchased the land when family fortunes improved.

As for his “drunkenness,” I doubt if he drank much more than his contemporaries. However, his reputation certainly was not without blemish. I have checked parish records of church courts and found several interesting entries. One is for a blacksmith who was found shoeing a horse on the Sabbath, a serious crime. His defense was that “Sir William Maxwell had made me do it.” Another entry was a young unmarried girl who was found to be pregnant, and her defense was exactly the same, that “Sir William Maxwell had made me do it.”

Son of Alexander Maxwell (d. 1730), 2nd Bart of Monreith, and Jean Montgomerie (1689-1745), daughter of the 9th Earl of Eglinton. Married to Magdalene Blair of Blair (d. 1765). The couple had six children, among them Jane (1746-1811), later Duchess of Gordon, and Eglantine, Lady Wallace.

The Scottish city of Port William was founded by and named after Sir William.

Sources

• Douglas, Robert. "The Baronage of Scotland" (1798), p.196.

• Paterson, James. History of the County of Ayr, With a Genealogical Account of the Families of Ayrshire (1852), Vol. 1, p.417 -- https://books.google.com/books?id=BvEHAAAAQAAJ&q=Blair+of+that+Ilk#v=snippet&q=Blair%20of%20that%20Ilk&f=false

• http://www.thepeerage.com/p2583.htm#i25824

See also:

• Maxwell Baronets on Wikipedia