3-034-805 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sir W. Stirling Maxwell of Keir, Bart., Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh, 1871. 'The newly-elected Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh, Sir William Stirling Maxwell, of Pollock and Keir, Bart., is a gentleman of ancient and renowned lineage in Scotland, as well as a scholar and author of good reputation in the departments of historical biography and the criticism of literature and the fine arts. He has also sat in the House of Commons, and has long been an influential member of the Conservative party in North Britain...having devoted his attention to the study of Spanish literature, history, and art, [he] went to reside some time in France and in Spain, for the prosecution of those researches...At the general Parliamentary election of July, 1852, Mr. Stirling was chosen M.P. for the county of Perth, and continued to represent the same constituency till the election of 1865. In that year, by the death of his maternal uncle, Sir John Maxwell, he became heir to the baronetcy...The claim of Mr. Stirling-Maxwell to the title was contested on grounds of heraldic precedence, but was finally declared to be valid, and he succeeded as ninth Baronet...Sir William's last book was "Velasquez and his Works," published in 1855'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.