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.

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[1] 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.[2]

From 1907 to 1912, he was Chief Justice of British Honduras.[3][4][5] (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,[4][5] 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[2] and King's Counsel for the Bahamas in 1920.[6]

Maxwell was knighted by the King in July 1911.[7]

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

  1. ↑ "University Intelligence". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 16 Jan 1882. p. 3. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Appointment to King's Counsel (British Honduras)". The London Gazette (27781): 2543. 4 April 1905. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "Appointments (British Honduras)". The London Gazette (27989): 561. 25 January 1907. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Appointments (Leeward Islands; British Honduras)". The London Gazette (28605): 3280. 7 May 1912. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  5. 1 2 "New Colonial Chief Justice". The Times. 8 May 1912. p. 4. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  6. ↑ "Appointment to King's Counsel (Bahamas)". The Edinburgh Gazette (13579): 836. 23 March 1920. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  7. ↑ "Knighthoods". The London Gazette (28512): 5167. 11 July 1911. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
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