William Stirling-Maxwell

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Sir William Stirling-Maxwell of Pollock (8 March 1818 – 15 January 1878), 9th Baronet, was an Scottish historical writer, politician and virtuoso.

He was born at Kenmure and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1839 and MA in 1843. He travelled in Spain and the Levant and contributed to Fraser's Magazine and the Examiner. He succeeded to the Keir estates in 1847.

He served as Member of Parliament for Perthshire from 1852 to 1858 and again from 1874 to 1878. He was appointed a member of the Universities Commission in 1859 and of the Historical Manuscripts Commission from 1872 to 1878, as well as of the Scottish Education Board (a forerunner to the Scottish Office). He was Rector of St Andrew's University in 1862 and of Edinburgh University in 1872. He succeeded to the Maxwell baronetcy (in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia) in 1865, assuming the additional name of Maxwell. He was appointed Chancellor of the University of Glasgow in 1865 and was awarded an honorary DCL from Oxford University in the same year. He was a member of the London University Senate and a trustee of the British Museum and the National Gallery.

He was a breeder of shorthorns and Clydesdale horses, an ardent bibliographer and collector of works of art.