WHYTE'S THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR SATURDAY & SUNDAY 25 & 26 July 2020

98 History 147 [1916] General Sir J G Maxwell’s uniforms Maxwell’s dress uniforms as Colonel and General of the Black Watch (42nd) Royal Highland Regiment, consisting a levee dress uniform with rank insignia of a Colonel, and a review order uniform with those of a General. Accompanied by the appropriate kilt, sporran, plaid, trousers, cross-belt with plate, stockings, kid gaiters. In steel trunk with brass plaque engraved “General Sir J. G. Maxwell, K.C.B. C.V.O. C.M.G. D.S.O.” By descent to a previous owner; Whyte’s, 8 November 2014, lot 217. Condition: All items appear to be in very good condition. General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell GCB, KCMG, CVO, DSO, PC (11 July 1859 – 21 February 1929) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. He served in the Mahdist War in the Sudan, the Boer War, and in the First WorldWar, but he is best known for his role in the brutal suppression of the 1916 Easter Rising and subsequent execution of rebellion leaders. After the Rising started, on 24 April 1916, Martial Law was declared for the city and county of Dublin by the Lord Lieutenant, LordWimborne, to allow Court Martial trials of persons breaching the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), passed 8 August 1914 and to deal with such occurrences as the Rising. Maxwell arrived in Ireland on Friday 28 April as “military governor”with “plenary powers” under Martial law. He set about dealing with the rebellion under his understanding of Martial law. During the week 2 to 9 May, Maxwell was in sole charge of trials and sentences by “field general court martial”, which was trial without defence or jury and in camera. He had 3,400 people arrested, 183 civilians tried, 90 of whom were sentenced to death. Fifteen were executed by firing squad between 3 May and 12 May. Prime Minister H.H. Asquith and his government became concerned at the speed and secrecy of events before intervening to stop more executions. In particular, there was concern that DORA regulations of general court martial were not applied, i.e. a full court of thirteen members, a professional judge, legal advocate and held in public, which could have prevented some executions. Maxwell admitted in a report to Asquith in June that the impression that the leaders were killed in cold blood without trial had resulted in a ‘revulsion of feeling‘ that had set in, in favour of the rebels, and was the result of the confusion between applying DORA as opposed to Martial law. Although Asquith promised to publish the court martial proceedings, they were not published until the 1990s. Maxwell retired in 1922 and died, aged 69, in 1929. Estimate €8000-€12000 (approx £7,270-£10,910) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 147