[1] He was the eldest son of Sir William Edward Maxwell and Lilias Grant Mackay.

He then progressed to Assistant District Magistrate and Registrar of Courts in Kinta Valley (Perak).

In 1904, he was transferred to the Civil Service of Straits Settlements and was acting Commissioner of the Court of Requests in Singapore.

[2] Sir William George Maxwell married his cousin Florence Evelyn daughter of Walter F Stevenson on 28 August 1902 in St. Mary's Church, Hendon, Middlesex.

On 29 November 1929, he opened the Sultan Idris Training College in Perak and making it the highest institution of learning exclusively for the Malays at that time.