Background
He was the son of John Maxwell, 1st Baron Farnham and Judith Barry.
He was the son of John Maxwell, 1st Baron Farnham and Judith Barry.
He was Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas between 1741 and 1800, was called to the Irish Bar in 1748 and appointed a Bencher in 1757. On his brother"s death on 16 November 1779, he succeeded as 3rd Baron Farnham, inheriting the Farnham estate. He commissioned James Wyatt, one of the most fashionable architects of the time, to design a new house.
These plans are now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New New York
He was created Viscount Farnham on 10 January 1781, Earl of Farnham on 22 June 1785, and became a Privy Councillor in Ireland on 6 June 1796. From 1756 to 1761 and again from 1768 to 1779, he sat in the Irish House of Commons for Cavan Borough.
Between 1761 and 1768, he represented Armagh Borough. They had the following children:
John James Maxwell, 2nd Earl of Farnham (5 February 1760 – 23 July 1823).
Anne Maxwell; she married in 1787 to Richard Fox of Fox Hall.
Judith Maxwell, died unmarried in 1818. They had the following issue:
Elizabeth Maxwell, died unmarried in January 1782.