Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maxse, Henry Berkeley Fitzhardinge
MAXSE, Sir HENRY BERKELEY FITZHARDINGE (1832–1883), governor of Heligoland, the son of James Maxse (d. 1864) of Effingham Hill, Surrey, and Caroline, daughter of the fifth Earl of Berkeley, was born in 1832, and entered the army on 1 June 1849 as a lieutenant in the grenadier guards, changing on 11 June 1852 to the 13th light dragoons, and on 6 July to the 21st foot. He became captain in the Coldstream guards on 29 Dec. 1854, and in the same year was ordered to the Crimea; he served throughout the war on the staff of the Earl of Cardigan, was present at the Alma, Balaclava (where he was wounded), and the siege of Sebastopol, and won the Crimean medal and clasps, besides Turkish medals and the decoration of the fifth class of the Medjidie. In 1855 he became a major. In 1863 he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel in the army, out of which he sold on 22 Dec. 1813. In 1863 he went to Heligoland as lieutenant-governor, and was appointed governor in February 1864. His long tenure of the government was an eventful one for the island. The reformed constitution was established in 1868, the gaming-tables were abolished in 1870, and Maxse had to face the consequent financial difficulties and complaints of the islanders. Under him also Heligoland was joined by telegraph cable to the mainland. In 1881 Maxse became governor of Newfoundland, but never really settled there. He died at St. John's on 10 Sept. 1883.
Maxse was a good German scholar, and published an English translation of Prince Bismarck's 'Letters to his Wife and Sisters, 1844 to 1870.' He was fond of acting. He was popular in Germany, where he spent his yearly vacations, and married a daughter of Herr von Rudloff.
[Colonial Office List, 1882; Times, 11 Sept. 1883; Burke's Knightage, 1883.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.197
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 114 | ii | 2 f.e. | Maxse, Sir Henry B. F.: for 1813 read 1873 |