Small Craft Home : The Sailors : Gordon S. Maxwell
The Sailors
Amateur British & Irish Yachtsmen Before World War One
Gordan S. Maxwell
October 7, 1883 - 1942
The fourth son (?) of parents Dr. Frederick Charles, and Lucilla Maxwell. He's noted as being the younger brother of Donald Maxwell in a publisher's note at the beginning of their book The Naval Front.
In 1876 Dr. Maxwell, a Methodist preacher, purchased a house known as "The Beeches" in Cambridge and founded the Manor House School. He later sold the building to his oldest son, Stanley, and the school eventually became part of the current Eaton House Schools. In addition to raising at least four boys Lucilla Maxwell appears to have been an artist in her own right - at least on an amateur basis. She provided the illustrations for at least one of Gordon's books in the 1920's (The Author's Thames). Gordon and his brother Donald dedicated a number of their books to her through the years.
Gordon Maxwell was a sailor, author and illustrator. Like his brother Donald, Gordon was greatly interested in the history of southeastern England, particularly the environs about London and Kent. Prior to 1914 Maxwell was employed by publisherJ.M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. in their offices at Aldine House, Bedford Street, London. What he did there is not entirely clear but it seems he was given the nickname "Idiot Boy" and, up until about 1912 produced illustrations using a glyph of "IB" as his signature. He wrote and published a brief, comic description of his office environs and co-workers in An Unnatural History of Aldine House in 1912. It would appear that, after the war, he returned to the business (J.M. Dent published his The Rhymes of A Motor Launch in 1918).
Gordon Maxwell was married to Gwendolyn though the date is unclear to me. Based upon the dedication in The Rhymes of A Motor Launch it seems that Gordon was married either before or during the war: "The 'The Girl I Left Behind' My Wife". However, the 1911 census of England and Wales shows Gordon living with his sister Maud and her husband in Surrey while he was already employed by a publisher (possibly J.M. Dent & Sons). So, he married Gwendolyn sometime after 1911 it seems.
At the start of World War One Maxwell volunteered with the R.N.V.R. where he served as a Lieutenant - initially in command of a small Motor Boat (the Minou and later commanding a Motor Launch (M.L. 314). He appears to have been posted to Great Yarmouth and then Dover. Being at Dover he participated in the raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend. He was later stationed at Harwich commanding the flotilla of M.L.'s receiving the surrendered German U-boat fleet. Shortly after the war he documented his experiences in The Rhymes of A Motor Launch and then The Motor Launch Patrol both of which were illustrated by his brother Donald.
In addition to brothers Stanley and Donald was Colin and the afore-mentioned sister, Maud. It appears that Gordon's middle name was derived from either his older brother Stanley or perhaps from a relative after whom the elder brother was also named (perhaps a brother of their father F.C.?). By the early 1920's Gordon and Gwendolyn had their one son Colin - presumeably named after Gordon's brother Colin. A reference to him in documents of the Clapham Antiquarian Society places Maxwell and his family at 30 Crescent Grove, Clapham in the 1920's.
Here's a (perhaps incomplete) bibliography of Gordon Maxwell's books.