Person:Violet Lockhart (1)

Violet Sophia LOCKHART was born 3dec1836 at Inchinnan (IGI) and died 8feb1914 (M. Williams). Violet S. Maxwell (b. 1837) died 1st qtr 1914 at Guildford (bmd). Violet and her husband were in Guildford in 1881,1891 and 1901 (census). From “Surrey Advertiser”: A chandelier presented to St Mary’s Church in Guildford by Muslim soldiers was the centrepiece of a patronal festival service to mark Candlemas, illuminated this year by a glorious blaze of candlelight. The inscription on the chandelier relates its interesting origins: “To the memory of Violet Sophia Maxwell, mother of their Squadron Commander, this candelabrum was given by the Indian Officers and Men of the Mohammedan Squadron XI King Edward’s Own Lancers (PROBYN’S HORSE) 1914.” The Maxwells are a distinguished military family who have lived in or near Guildford since 1871, when Thomas Maxwell, retired surgeon major in the Indian Army, brought his young wife and family to live in West Hill House, Guildown Road. It is his wife, Violet, who is commemorated by the chandelier, and also by other furnishings in St Mary’s. Violet Maxwell, born in 1837, was the daughter of the Rev Lawrence Lockhart, minister of the parish of Inchinnan, just outside Glasgow. While she was growing up there she would have met Sir Walter Scott, whose daughter Sophia was married to Violet’s uncle, J.B. Lockhart, Scott’s friend and biographer. Violet was married to Thomas Maxwell in 1860, in her father’s church. The Maxwell family home then was at Dargavel House, just two or three miles away, in the same parish. The couple went out to India, where Violet produced her first four children, before Thomas retired from the Indian Army medical service in 1868 and came back to England. They settled in Guildford where they developed a wide circle of friends. Violet gave birth to another seven children, the last five of them being born in Guildford, making an impressive count of 11 children in 18 years. There were seven sons and four daughters. Five of the sons entered the army, and served with distinction, but sadly four of them fell in the First World War. Their names and ranks have been added to their parents’ grave in the Mount Cemetery. After over 30 years at West Hill House, the Maxwells moved down the road to Guildown Grange. It was here that Thomas died in 1908 at the age of 84. Violet subsequently left Guildford and went back to India to live with her youngest son, Eustace, who was the squadron commander of the 11th Bengal Lancers (later 11th King Edward’s Own Lancers), or Probyn’s Horse, as it was generally called. The chandelier is testimony to the way in which this motherly woman must have touched the hearts of the Indian officers and men in her son’s regiment. “They could see how she drew her strength from her Christian faith,” suggested Canon Robert Cotton in his sermon. “Perhaps she carried a light for them, just as the chandelier they gave carries light for us. So a Muslim gift to a Christian church is part of a chain of blessing, which we in our turn must carry onwards.” Violet Maxwell was back again in Guildford by the beginning of 1914 for it was here that she died. Only two and a half years later, her son Major Eustace Maxwell, who had enlisted in the British Army at the outbreak of war, fell on the Somme, aged 28.

1.   International Genealogical Index. ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, 1999-2008)
   Batch #: C115664, Sheet #: 00, Source Call #: 1041066, Printout Call #: 6900394, Dates: 181.
2.   International Genealogical Index. ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, 1999-2008)
   Batch #: M115661, Sheet #: 00, Source Call #: 6035516 REGISTER, Printout Call #: NONE, Date.
3.   England. 1881 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands: . (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.).
4.   England. 1891 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.).
5.   England. England. 1901 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.).