View source for William Hamilton Maxwell

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| name         = William Hamilton Maxwell
| image        = MAXWELL(1844) Portrait in his 'Wanderings in the Highlands and Islands'.jpg
| imagesize    = 240px
| birth_date   = 1792
| death_date   = 1850
| genre        = Novelist
| subject      = Military history, military fiction
}}

'''William Hamilton Maxwell''' (30 June 1792 in [[Newry, County Down]], Ireland – 29 December 1850 in [[Musselburgh]], Scotland) was an Irish [[novelist]], [[historian]] and [[Clergy|clergyman]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Maxwell, William Hamilton |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/maxwell-william-hamilton-a5535 |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=www.dib.ie}}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early life and Career===
Maxwell William Hamilton, son of merchant James Maxwell and his wife, a daughter of William Hamilton, was born on June 30, 1792, in Market Street, Newry, County Down. Educated at David Henderson's Newry school and also [[Trinity College, Dublin]], where he commenced his tertiary learning.<ref name=":0" />  He claimed to have entered the [[British Army]] and seen service in the [[Peninsular War]] and the [[Battle of Waterloo]], but this is generally believed to be untrue.<ref>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Maxwell, William Hamilton}}</ref> Compelled by circumstances, he pursued a path in holy orders. After his ordination in 1813, he was first assigned to the humble [[Curate|curacy]] of Clonallon, overlooking [[Carlingford, County Louth|Carlingford]] Bay.
Afterwards he took orders, but was deprived of his living for non-residence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Hamilton Maxwell, Wild Sports of the West, with Legendary Tales and Local Sketches, 1838 |url=https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/product/william-hamilton-maxwell-wild-sports-of-the-west/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=Irish Family History Centre |language=en-US}}</ref>

His novels, ''O'Hara'' (1825), and ''Stories from Waterloo'' (1834) started the school of rollicking military fiction, which culminated in the novels of [[Charles Lever]]. Maxwell also wrote a ''Life of the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]'' (1839–1841), and a ''History of the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]]''  (1845) - written in a spirit hostile to the rebels, and accompanied with similarly hostile illustrations by [[George Cruikshank]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=William Hamilton Maxwell |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG155993 |website=The British museum}}</ref>

Maxwell married Mary Dobbin, daughter of Thomas Dobbin.<ref>[http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/nbl/lh_nbl_show5.php?id=050591 Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland, 1912, page 183]</ref>

===Death===
On December 29, 1850, William Hamilton Maxwell died in [[Musselburgh]], [[Scotland]]. He was fifty-five years old.<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Hamilton Maxwell |url=https://www.ouririshheritage.org/content/archive/people/101_mayo_people/arts-craft-and-culture/william-hamilton-maxwell |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=Our Irish Heritage |language=en}}</ref>

== Publications ==
* ''Stories of waterloo : and other tales'' (1829)
* ''Wild Sports of the West. With Legendary Tales, and Local Sketches'' (1832)
* ''The Field Book, or Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom compiled from the best authorities ancient and modern'' (1833)
* ''Captain Blake of the Rifles; or, My Life'' (1836)
* ''The Bivouac; Or, Stories of the Peninsular War'' (1837)
* ''Life of the Duke of Wellington'' (1839)
* ''History of the Irish rebellion in 1798'' (1845)
* ''Hill-side and border sketches: with legends of the Cheviots and the Lammermuir'' (1847)
* ''The Fortunes of Hector O'Halloran, And His Man Mark Antony O'Toole'' (1853)
* ''Life, Military and Civil, of the Duke of Wellington'' (1865)
* ''The Victories of Wellington and the British Armies'' (1891)

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

== External links==
*{{Gutenberg author|id=44001}}
*{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Maxwell, William Hamilton}}
{{A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1792 births]]
[[Category:1850 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:People from Newry]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish novelists]]