page_title: Thomas Maxwell (Jacobite)
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Maxwell (Jacobite) / Life
caption_attribution_description: English: The Duchess of Norfolk in 1678.
context_page_description: Thomas Maxwell was a Scottish professional soldier.
  Maxwell, an officer of dragoons, spent much of his career with the English and subsequently the Irish Royal Army; during the Williamite war in Ireland he was a member of the Jacobite party, remaining loyal to the deposed James II.
  Following the Jacobite defeat in Ireland and a period of imprisonment in England, Maxwell entered French service on the Continent, where he was killed in battle soon afterwards.
context_section_description: Relatively little is known of Maxwell’s origins. His family were members of the tiny Scottish Roman Catholic minority, and were a cadet branch of the family of Maxwell of Kirkconnel, Kirkcudbrightshire. He entered the Scots College, Douai in 1662, but transferred to the Royal Scots College in Madrid in 1664 at his own request.
  Although as a Catholic his career prospects were limited, Maxwell joined the army in 1671. After the accession of the Catholic James II to the throne, Maxwell's prospects improved, particularly as a protege of James's close advisor the Earl of Melfort. He was appointed colonel of Princess Anne of Denmark's Regiment of Dragoons in England in 1688, replacing John Berkeley, 4th Viscount Fitzhardinge. 
  While stationed in England he married Jane Howard, widow of the 6th Duke of Norfolk.
  Several engraved portraits of Maxwell after a now lost portrait by Closterman exist.
caption: Maxwell's wife Jane, widow of the 6th Duke of Norfolk