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Frederick Maxse

{{Short description|British naval officer and radical (1833–1900)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{infobox person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = {{nowrap|Frederick Augustus Maxse}}

| honorific_suffix =

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1833|4|13}}

| birth_place = {{nowrap|London, England}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1900|6|25|1833|4|13}}

| death_place = {{nowrap|London, England}}

| resting_place =

| education =

| alma_mater =

| father = {{nowrap|James Maxse}}

| mother = Lady Caroline FitzHardinge

| spouse = Cecilia Steel

| children = 4

| occupation = {{nowrap|Royal Navy officer & campaigner}}

| known_for =

| relatives = Henry Maxse (brother)
{{nowrap|Frederick Berkeley (father-in-law)}}
General Ivor Maxse (son)
Leopold Maxse (son)
Violet Maxse (daughter)

| module = {{infobox military person

| embed = yes

| allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}}

| branch = {{navy|United Kingdom}}

| serviceyears = 18??-1867

| unit =

| rank = Admiral

| awards =

| battles = {{tree list}}

{{tree list/end}}

}}

}}

Admiral Frederick Augustus Maxse (13 April 1833 – 25 June 1900) was a British Royal Navy officer and radical liberal campaigner.{{cite ODNB|id=18398|first=Roger T.|last=Stearn|title=Maxse, Frederick Augustus}}{{cite news |title= Obituary: Admiral Maxse |work=The Times |date=27 June 1900 |page= 7}}

Early life

Maxse was born in London, the son of James Maxse and Lady Caroline FitzHardinge, daughter of Frederick Augustus, 5th Earl of Berkeley. His elder brother was Sir Henry Berkeley Fitzhardinge Maxse.{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Mosley, Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year= 2003 |pages=351–352 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}

Career

Maxse was naval aide-de-camp to Lord Raglan after the Battle of the Alma on 20 September 1854 in the Crimean War. He was an atheist and vegetarian.Sencourt, Robert. (2012). The Life of George Meredith: Biography of a Poet. Severus Verlag. p. 94. {{ISBN|9783863472443}}

Maxse retired from the Royal Navy in 1867, but failed in his attempts to get elected to Parliament in 1868 and 1874. Maxse was active in various causes including the Charity Organisation Society, John Stuart Mill's Land Tenure Reform Association, the National Education League and the Eastern Question Association, founded to campaign against the atrocities of the Ottoman Empire during the Bulgarian April Uprising of 1876. He also founded the Electoral Reform Association which campaigned for the equalisation of parliamentary constituencies.

He died in London.

Works

Maxse was a friend of Joseph Chamberlain, and his 1873 pamphlet The Causes of Social Revolt became the basis of Chamberlain's radical programme of 1885.{{cite book|last1=Bowie|first1=Duncan|title=Our History: Roots of the British Socialist Movement|date=2014|publisher=Socialist History Society|location=London|isbn=9780955513893|pages=21–22}}

Family

Maxse married Cecilia Steel, a society beauty, and daughter of Colonel James Steel. They had two sons and two daughters before separating around 1877:{{cite ODNB|id=35039|first=Hugh|last=Cecil|title=Milner, Violet Georgina}}

  • Gen. Sir Ivor Maxse (1862–1958), British Army officer of the First World War
  • Leopold Maxse (1864–1932), editor
  • Olive Hermione Maxse (1867–1955), died unmarried; was a model for Edward Burne-Jones{{cite web |title=Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones Bt., A.R.A., R.W.S. (1833-1898), Portrait study of Olive Maxse, probably for 'The Sirens' |url=https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/sir-edward-coley-burne-jones-bt-ara-rws-5210399-details.aspx |publisher=Christie's |access-date=18 May 2019 |language=en}}
  • Violet Georgina (1872–1958), editor; married, firstly, Lord Edward Cecil and secondly, Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner

References

{{Reflist}}

Sources

  • {{cite DNBSupp|wstitle = Maxse, Frederick Augustus|first=James McMullen|last= Rigg}}

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Category:1833 births

Category:1900 deaths

Category:Royal Navy admirals

Frederick

Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War

Category:English political writers

Category:Military personnel from London

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