Height overall: 26cm (10in)
Provenance: Lt-Col Aymer Maxwell, late Grenadiers Guards, thence by descent
Silver. A pair of Grenadier Guards standing figures after Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890) and George Wade (1853-1933). The first modelled as a Guardsman of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards (1815) in full dress, comprising the bearskin cap, as awarded after the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), knee-length gaiters, tunic and accoutrements badged with regimental insignia. The second modelled as a Grenadier Guardsman of the late Victorian period in marching order with bearskin cap and regimentally specific valise badge and breech-loading Lee-Metford. Both mounted on ebonised bases applied with silver presentation plaques inscribed ‘A.M. EX DONO / AP & VP OCT / XX MCMIX’. Height of figure: 17.5cm (6.9in). Hallmarked London 1909.
The present figures were given to Lt-Col Aymer Maxwell (1877-1914) at the time of his marriage to Lady Mary Percy, daughter of Henry George, 7th Duke of Northumberland, KG, PC, FRS and his wife, Lady Edith Campbell, eldest daughter of George, 8th Duke of Argyll, KG, KT, PC. Aymer was the son of Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell of Monreith, 7th Baronet, and was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. He was commissioned into 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards in 1897 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1899. He served with the Grenadiers during the Second Boer War, taking part in the advance on Kimberley, including the actions at Belmont and Enslin, for which he received the Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasp. He retired to the Reserve of Officers in September 1907 and was appointed Captain in Lovat’s Scouts in 1910. On mobilisation in August 1914, Maxwell immediately re-joined the Grenadier Guards, but subsequently volunteered for service in the newly-formed Royal Naval Division. He received a temporary commission as Lieutenant-Colonel, Royal Marines and was mortally wounded while commanding the Collingwood Battalion, RND, at Antwerp on 8 October 1914.