, Pollok House The eldest son of
Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, 9th Baronet and Lady Anna Maria Leslie-Melville, second daughter of
David Leslie-Melville, 8th Earl of Leven and Elizabeth Anne Campbell, he was educated at
Eton College and at
Trinity College, Cambridge. He succeeded his father to the baronetcy in 1878. He was the owner of the Corrour Estate in
Lochaber from 1891 and a champion of afforestation in
Scotland. From 1892, he planted a wide range of conifer and broadleaved tree species around
Loch Ossian. He was
Conservative Member of Parliament for
the College Division of Glasgow between 1895 and 1906, and later served as Chairman of the
Forestry Commission from 1929–1932. He was also Chairman of the
Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland, and a Trustee of the
National Galleries of Scotland, Chairman of
Ancient Monuments Board. He was a
Lieutenant in the
Royal Company of Archers and an active
Freemason, being a member of The Pollokshaws Royal Arch Lodge No. 153, a founding member of Lodge Blythswood No. 817, and an honorary member of Lodge Pollok, Pollokshields No. 772. He was a founder member of the
National Trust for Scotland (1931), becoming one of its first Vice-Presidents and President from 1943 until his death. He realised the importance of green spaces within a city. In this context, he was determined to protect the
Pollok Estate and give the people of Glasgow access to it, which he undertook in 1911. Stirling-Maxwell was also involved in trying to resolve the protracted problem of finding a home for the art treasures presented to Glasgow in 1944 by Sir
William Burrell. After his death, his daughter gave
Pollok House, a substantial proportion of the
estate and her father's art collection to the
Glasgow Corporation. This gift of land eventually allowed the Glasgow city fathers to erect a building to hold the
Burrell Collection. In 1929 he was appointed a
Knight of the Thistle. He held the honorary degree of
LLD from the
University of Glasgow, the
University of Aberdeen and
Edinburgh University. Hon.
RSA; Hon.
RIBA; Hon.
RWS; Hon.
RSW and a
DL. Sir John and Lady Stirling-Maxwell were both elected Fellows of the
Royal Horticultural Society in 1902. In 1938 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir
Ernest Wedderburn, Sir John Sutherland, Sir
Thomas Henry Holland and Sir
William Wright Smith. Sir John Stirling-Maxwell died at Pollok House on 30 May 1956. ==Family==