10 JAMES CLKltK MAXWELL 



was a Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland from 1707 

 to 1755 ; lie was also one of the Commissioners of 

 the Union, and was in many ways an accomplished 

 scholar. His second son < leorge married a first cousin, 

 Dorothea Maxwell, the hciivss of Middlcbio in Dum- 

 friesshire, and took the name of Maxwell. l>y tho 

 death of his elder Brother .lames in 17S2 (Icorgo 

 Clerk Maxwell succeeded to the baronetcy and tho 

 l>ro|>erty of Penicuik. Before this time he had 

 become involved in mining and manufacturing specu- 

 lations, and most of the Middlebie property had been 

 sold to pay his debts. 



The property of Sir George Clerk Maxwell de- 

 scended in 171)8 to his two grandsons, Sir George 

 Clerk and Mr. John Clerk Maxwell. It had been 

 arranged that the younger of tho two was to take 

 the remains of the Middlebie property and to assume 

 with it the name of Maxwell. Sir (ieorgc Clerk was 

 member for Midlothian, and held otlice under Sir 

 Robert Peel. John Clerk Maxwell was the father of 

 James Clerk Maxwell, the subject of this sketch.* 



John Clerk Maxwell lived with his widowed mother 

 in Edinburgh until her death in 1.S24. He was a 

 lawyer, and from time to time did some little 

 business in the courts. At the same time he main- 

 tained an interest in scientific pursuits, especially 

 those of a practical nature. Professor Campbell 

 tells us of an endeavour to devise a bellows which 

 would give a continuous draught of air. In 1831 he 



* A full biographical account of tho Clrrk ami Maxwell families 

 is given in a note by Miss Isabella Clerk in tho " Life of Jamct* Clerk 

 M>ixwell," an'l from this the above brief Ntalemeiit Irw been taken. 



