Background
John Preston Maxwell was born on 5 December 1871 in Birmingham, where his father Doctor James Laidlaw Maxwell, practised medicine.
John Preston Maxwell was born on 5 December 1871 in Birmingham, where his father Doctor James Laidlaw Maxwell, practised medicine.
He attended University College School and University College London, before taking his clinical training at Street Bartholomew"s Hospital, from which he emerged with a gold medal in obstetrics and went on to work as a resident at Street Bartholomew"son
He worked at Yungchun Hospital, Fujian, from 1899 to 1919, and Changpoo, Amoy. He specialised in obstetrics and was a leading authority on foetal osteomalacia. He became a Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Union Medical College in Beijing (a teaching hospital funded by the Rockefeller Foundation), President of the Chinese Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and worked as secretary to the medical committee of the Lord Mayor"s Fund for the Relief of Distress in China.
He was awarded the Army and Navy Medal by the Chinese Republic and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1929.
Maxwell returned to England at some point after 1935 (possibly as a result of the invasion of Beijing by the Japanese in 1937) and lived at Brinkley, Cambridgeshire. He was elected consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the nearby Newmarket General Hospital.