General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell, GCB, KCMG, CVO, DSO (11 July 1859 – 21 February 1929) was a British Army officer and colonial governor.

[5][6][7] Maxwell served with the Black Watch in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882, taking part in the storming of the Egyptian fortifications at Tel-El-Kabir and rising to the rank of captain.

He played an active role with the Egyptian frontier forces in the Sudan, and won a Distinguished Service Order (DSO)[8] in the engagement at Ginnis and was also present in the battle at Gemaizah in 1888 where he was made brevet lieutenant colonel.

[16] As governor, he filled a difficult post "with great tact and ability ... gained the confidence and esteem of the general public" according to a contemporary news report.

[16] After leaving Pretoria he held a command in the Western district, before returning to the United Kingdom in July 1902,[17] a month after the end of the war.

In his final despatch from South Africa in June 1902, the commander-in-chief (C-in-C), Major General Lord Kitchener described Maxwell as an officer with "an energetic mind, and a sound judgment, which, coupled with his kindly and considerate disposition, have enabled him to render valuable service".

[24] In August 1903 he was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) for assisting with King Edward VII's 1903 visit to Ireland.

[27] In September 1907 they visited Vienna to review the Duke's Austrian regiment [de], where he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph.

Granted plenary powers by his superiors, Maxwell was made temporary military governor of Ireland and publicly proclaimed his intent "to arrest all dangerous Sinn Feiners", including "those who have taken an active part in the movement although not in the present rebellion.

Controversially, Maxwell decided that the courts-martial would be held in camera and without a defence counsel or jury, which Crown law officers later ruled to have been illegal.

Some of those officers who conducted the trials had commanded troops involved in suppressing the rebellion, a conflict of interest that the British Military Manual prohibited.

[37] However, British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and his cabinet soon became concerned with the speed and secrecy of events, and intervened in order to stop more executions.

These regulations called for a full court of thirteen members, a professional judge, a legal advocate, and for the proceedings to be held in public, provisions which could have prevented some of the executions.

Jennie immediately ended her relationship with Ramsden, to the amusement of one of the most famous of her lovers, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.