'''Sir Frederic Mackenzie Maxwell''', KC (11 January 1860 – 9 May 1931) was a British barrister and colonial judge who served as Chief Justice of British Honduras and of the Leeward Islands.
== Early life and education == Maxwell was born in the Turks and Caicos Islands, at the time a part of the Bahamas.
The son of the Rev. Joseph Maxwell, Vicar of Pennington, Lancashire and Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Nassau, Bahamas, Maxwell was privately educated, before attending Nassau Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he took first-class honours in Jurisprudence in 1885.
== Legal career ==
=== Admission === He was called to the English bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1884, where he held a first-class studentship in jurisprudence and Roman civil law<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 Jan 1882 |title=University Intelligence |pages=3 |work=Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/799466177 |access-date=20 August 2023}}</ref> and a first-class scholarship in equity, and joined the Northern Circuit.
=== British Honduras (present-day Belize) === He became Acting Attorney-General of British Honduras in 1890 and Attorney-General in 1896.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=4 April 1905 |title=Appointment to King's Counsel (British Honduras) |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27781/page/2543 |journal=The London Gazette |issue=27781 |pages=2543 |access-date=20 August 2023 |ref=KC1}}</ref>
From 1907 to 1912, he was Chief Justice of British Honduras.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=25 January 1907 |title=Appointments (British Honduras) |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27989/page/561 |journal=The London Gazette |issue=27989 |pages=561 |access-date=20 August 2023 |ref=CJ-BH}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |date=7 May 1912 |title=Appointments (Leeward Islands; British Honduras) |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28605/page/3280 |journal=The London Gazette |issue=28605 |pages=3280 |access-date=20 August 2023 |ref=CH-LI}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=8 May 1912 |title=New Colonial Chief Justice |pages=4 |work=The Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/33231368 |access-date=20 August 2023 |ref=Times1912}}</ref> (He had also served as Acting Chief Justice in 1899, 1902, 1904, and 1906.)
He was also for a time Major Commanding, British Honduras Volunteer Force.
=== Leeward Islands === In 1912, he became Chief Justice of the Leeward Islands,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> and retired in 1918. He also revised the laws of the Leeward Islands from 1871 to 1888.
=== Retirement === Following his retirement from the bench, he chaired the commission on riots in Belize in 1919.
== Honours == Maxwell was created a King's Counsel for British Honduras in 1905<ref name=":0" /> and King's Counsel for the Bahamas in 1920.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=23 March 1920 |title=Appointment to King's Counsel (Bahamas) |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13579/page/836 |journal=The Edinburgh Gazette |issue=13579 |pages=836 |access-date=20 August 2023 |ref=KC2}}</ref>
Maxwell was knighted by the King in July 1911.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=11 July 1911 |title=Knighthoods |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28512/page/5167 |journal=The London Gazette |issue=28512 |pages=5167 |access-date=20 August 2023 |ref=knighthood}}</ref>
== Personal life == In 1882, Maxwell married Adela Drought, daughter of the Rev Adolphus T. Drought, Rector of Cloontuskert, Ireland. They had two sons and a daughter.
== Death == Maxwell died in Nice, France, in 1931.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links== *[https://www.ukwhoswho.com/display/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-213762?rskey=TlpTuG&result=1 ''Who's who'' entry for Sir Frederic Mackenzie Maxwell] * "Obituary", 171 Law Times 407 (1931) * [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-democrat-citizens-petition-for/130320335/ Citizens Petition that Maxwell be next Governor of British Honduras]
Category:Knights Bachelor Category:1931 deaths Category:Bahamian King's Counsel Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Category:British Honduras people Category:Chief justices of British Honduras Category:Chief justices of the Leeward Islands Category:19th-century King's Counsel Category:20th-century King's Counsel