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Christian (Chris) Maxwell Christian Maxwell was the sister of Gavin Maxwell (whose best known work is 'A Ring of Bright Water'). Their father was Lt. Col. Sir Aymer Maxwell of the Monreith Maxwells, Baronets since 1681. Her mother was Lady Mary Percy of the Percys of Northumbria (Perci), who were the most powerful noble family in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages. The heirs of the Percys were ultimately made Duke of Northumberland in 1766; Chris’ grandfather was the 7th Duke.
Geordie Dickie (see separate entry and note aka Jack Brent) is supposed by his family to have had a relationship with Christian, who went by the name Chris in Communist circles.
It is believed that she and Geordie were living together in London with Party comrades in the early 1930s, before Geordie’s involvement in Spain, when Chris was already an active Communist. Gavin Maxwell described her as “his mad Bolshevik sister” (though he himself is alleged to have suffered bipolar disorder!) and there was some expected family estrangement for some time for Chris. Although, she would later visit her mother in her house in Eaton Square house, which was, naturally, serviced by a butler and servants.
Chris Maxwell was a talented artist and designed a campaign poster used during the Spanish Civil War. In the later 1930s, Chris worked with Noreen Branson at the LRD. Like Branson, she appears to have made numerous trips abroad, in Maxwell’s case to Prague.
In her later years, Chris Maxwell lived in Battersea and she remained loyal to the Communist Party until her death.
Main source: John Dickie, and other material
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