William Henry Maxwell (Royal Navy officer)

Last updated


William Henry Maxwell
Born(1840-06-13)13 June 1840
Died1 July 1920(1920-07-01) (aged 80)
Rank Admiral
Commands held Emerald (1876);
HMS Neptune (1874);
Commodore in Charge at Hong Kong

William Henry Maxwell was an officer of the Royal Navy who rose to the rank of Admiral. He served on the Cape of Good Hope Station, Australia Station, and as the Commodore in Charge at Hong Kong.

Maxwell entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in 1854. [1] He served in the frigate HMS Euryalus (1853) in the Baltic Campaign in 1854–1856, and was appointed Midshipman in 1856. [1]

He was promoted to Mate, then to the rank of Lieutenant, in January 1860, when he was serving in HMS Boscawen (1844) on the Cape of Good Hope Station from May 1856 to March 1860. [1] He was transferred to the HMS Lyra (1857), and from March 1860 to January 1862, the ship was engaged on the east coast of Africa suppressing the slave trade, seizing a Spanish slaving barque and 18-20 Arab slave dhows, and freeing and landing 200 slaves on the Seychelles. [1] From May 1863 to September 1866 he served on HMS Sutlej (1855) in the Pacific Ocean. He was made Commander on 6 July 1866. [1] During 1868 and 1869, he served on HMS Octavia (1849) and HMS Dryad (1866), in the Indian Ocean, voyaging to the East Indies. An Arab slave dhow was taken as prize off the coast of Madagascar, and 200 slaves were freed and landed on the Seychelles. [1] Maxwell served at the School of Gunnery, Portsmouth, from November 1869 to November 1872. He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 29 November 1872. [1]

He took command of Emerald (1876) on 2 July 1878 on the Pacific Station. [2] In December 1880, the Emerald was sent to investigate the death of Lieutenant Bower and four crew of the schooner HMS Sandfly who were killed in the Nggela Islands in October 1880. [3] [4] [5] [6] The Emerald spend 2 months attempting to locate the attackers. Being unable to do so the Emerald destroyed approximately 33 villages as well as cutting down fruit trees and destroying canoes in reprisal for the Sandfly incident. [7] [8] [9]

The Emerald, under Captain Maxwell, visited the Ellice Islands in 1881. [10] [11] [12] His command of Emerald ceased on 2 September 1882. He took command of HMS Neptune (1874) on 28 March 1883 for service with the Channel Fleet. His command of Neptune ceased on 1 April 1885. [1]

Maxwell was appointed as the Commodore in Charge at Hong Kong from February 1887 to December 1888. [13] He returned to England and was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1889 and Vice-Admiral in 1894. He was placed on the Retired List in 1895, and he was advanced to the rank of Admiral on the Retired List in 1900. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert and Ellice Islands</span> 1892–1976 British colony in the Pacific

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976, and were administered as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) until they became independent. The history of GEIC was mainly characterized by phosphate mining on Ocean Island. In October 1975, these islands were divided by force of law into two separate colonies, and they became independent nations shortly thereafter: the Ellice Islands became Tuvalu in 1978, and the Gilbert Islands became part of Kiribati in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niutao</span> Reef Island in Tuvalu

Niutao is a reef island in the northern part of Tuvalu. It is one of the nine districts (islands) of Tuvalu. It is also one of the three districts that consist of only one island - not counting the three islets inside the closed lagoon. Niutao has a population of 582.

HMS <i>Tamar</i> (shore station) Royal Navy base in Hong Kong, 1897–1997

HMS Tamar was the name for the British Royal Navy's base in Hong Kong from 1897 to 1997. It took its name from HMS Tamar, a ship that was used as the base until replaced by buildings ashore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Hoskins</span>

Admiral Sir Anthony Hiley Hoskins, was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer, he took part in the Cape Frontier War of 1851 and then saw action at the Battle of Canton in December 1857 and the Battle of Taku Forts in May 1858 during Second Opium War. Once promoted to flag officer rank, he acted as Second-in-Command of the Fleet at the bombardment of Alexandria in July 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War. He went on to be First Naval Lord in September 1891 but in that role took a relaxed view of the size of the Fleet and did not see the need for a large shipbuilding effort on the scale envisaged by some of his colleagues, such as Admiral Sir Frederick Richards and Admiral Sir John Fisher who were concerned about French and German naval expansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Mangles Denham</span> British Royal Navy officer

Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Richards</span> Royal Navy officer (1833–1912)

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick William Richards, was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded a paddle-sloop during the Second Opium War in 1860 and, as senior officer on the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station, he landed on the coast of South Africa with a small naval brigade which he led at the Battle of Gingindlovu and the Siege of Eshowe in April 1879 during the Anglo–Zulu War. He took part in the Battle of Laing's Nek in January 1881 during the First Boer War and, as Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station, he organized and equipped a naval brigade to support the British advance up the Irrawaddy River in November 1885 during the Third Anglo-Burmese War. He went on to be First Naval Lord and in that role led a huge shipbuilding and naval works programme undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Naval Defence Act 1889. The programme was opposed by Prime Minister William Gladstone who was concerned about its vast cost and who resigned after a Cabinet defeat over it in March 1894. The programme continued under the Governments of Lord Rosebery and then Lord Salisbury and Richards remained in office driving the programme throughout the political turmoil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Eden Bradford</span>

Admiral Sir Edward Eden Bradford, was a British naval officer, who commanded the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet until May 1916, and wrote Admiral of the Fleet Arthur Knyvet Wilson's biography.

Admiral Sir William Loring was a senior officer in the Royal Navy. He was the first Commander-in-Chief of the Australia Station from 26 March 1859 until 10 March 1860. He was also the Rear-Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard between 1870 and 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Cumming (Royal Navy officer)</span> Royal Navy admiral

Admiral Sir Arthur Cumming was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Gilbert John Brydone Elliot was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he was involved in the bombardment of Acre during the Egyptian–Ottoman War.

HMS <i>Royalist</i> (1883) Royal Navy ship

HMS Royalist was a Satellite-class composite screw sloop of the Royal Navy, built in 1883 and hulked as a depot ship in 1900. She was renamed Colleen in 1913, transferred to the Irish Free State in 1923 and broken up in 1950.

HMS <i>Sandfly</i> (1872)

HMS Sandfly was a schooner of the Royal Navy, built by John Cuthbert, Millers Point, New South Wales and launched on 5 December 1872. She commenced service on the Australia Station at Sydney in 1873 for anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific. She was paid off in 1883 and sold to Samoa.

HMS <i>Miranda</i> (1879) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Miranda was a Doterel-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at Devonport Dockyard and launched on 30 September 1879.

Rear-Admiral John Crawford Wilson was a Royal Navy officer who was appointed Commodore in command of the Australia Station.

HMS Emerald was an Emerald-class corvette, of the Royal Navy, built at the Pembroke Dockyard and launched on 18 August 1876.

Alfred Restieaux (1832–1911) was born in Paris, France, and came from a family of French descent. His grandfather was a French nobleman who escaped the guillotine during the French Revolution. At the age of 16 he migrated to Australia and later he travelled to South America and North America. He later became an island trader in the central Pacific. From 1867 to 1872 he had dealings with Ben Pease and Bully Hayes, two of the more notorious captains of ships and blackbirders that operated in the Pacific at that time.

Sir William Alexander George Young, , was a British colonial administrator who acted in an interim capacity as Governor of Jamaica in 1874, and later served as Governor of Gold Coast from 1884 to his death in 1885. His father may have been an RN paymaster as well: a paymaster of that name was on board HMS Gorgon when she ran aground on the River Plate in May 1844 and was refloated in November that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Mostyn Field</span>

Admiral Sir Arthur Mostyn Field, was a senior officer in the Royal Navy who served as Hydrographer of the Navy from 1904 to 1909.

Admiral Edward Henry Meggs Davis was a Royal Navy captain, then admiral, who served in the Cape of Good Hope Station, Pacific Station, Mediterranean Fleet and the Jamaica Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Harvey Rainier</span> British admiral

Admiral John Harvey Rainier was a Royal Navy officer. He had the unusual distinction of commanding troops from six different nations in action.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Maxwell, William Henry, Admiral, 1840-1920". Royal Museums Greenwich. National Maritime Museum . Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  2. Bastock, John (1988). Ships on the Australia Station. Frenchs Forest, Australia: Child & Associates. ISBN   0-86777-348-0.
  3. "Massacre of Lieutenant Bower and five seamen of H.M.S. Sandfly". The Sydney Morning Herald . 2 December 1880. p. 7. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2019 via Trove.
  4. "Sandfly Passage, Nggela, Incident, 1880". Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia 1893-1978. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  5. Lawrence, David Russell (October 2014). "Chapter 5 Liberalism, Imperialism and colonial expansion" (PDF). The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific. ANU Press. pp. 149–151. ISBN   9781925022032.
  6. "How Kalekona Got His Head". IV(11) Pacific Islands Monthly. 22 June 1934. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  7. "Burn, J G, fl 1881 : Diary kept aboard HMS Emerald during the time spent in the Solomon Islands". National Library of New Zealand. 25 August 1881. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  8. "Punishing the South Sea Islanders". The Goulburn Herald and Chronicle . 2 February 1881. p. 4. Archived from the original on 24 December 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2019 via Trove.
  9. Bach, John (1986). The Australian Station. NSW University Press, Australia.
  10. Doug Munro (1987). The Lives and Times of Resident Traders In Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below. 10(2) Pacific Studies 73.
  11. Captain Davis (1892). Journal of H.M.S. Royalist.
  12. Resture, Jane. "TUVALU HISTORY - 'The Davis Diaries' (H.M.S. Royalist, 1892 visit to Ellice Islands under Captain Davis)" . Retrieved 20 Sep 2011.
  13. Mackie, Colin. "Royal Navy Senior Appointments from 1865: Commodore Hong Kong" (PDF). gulabin.com. Colin Mackie, July 2018. pp. 177–178. Retrieved 19 July 2018.