Talk:Murray Maxwell

Murray Maxwell is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on September 16, 2010.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
August 11, 2008	Good article nominee	Listed
November 19, 2008	WikiProject peer review	Reviewed
February 19, 2009	Featured article candidate	Promoted
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on July 29, 2008. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Sir Murray Maxwell, a celebrated Royal Navy officer, once spent weeks marooned on an island under attack from pirates following the loss of HMS Alceste* in 1817?*
Current status: Featured article

Biography: Military

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Military history: Biography / Maritime / British / European / Napoleonic era

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Scotland Low‑importance

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GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Murray Maxwell/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Right, a review now. The formalities:

Is it reasonably well written?

A. Prose: Yep, is it meant to say: "serve personal injury" or severe? Was that a direct quote? B. MoS: Good, you should delink the dates in the references where you can for consistency

Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

A. References to sources: Good B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary: Good C. No original research: This comes with the other two, all seems to be cited.

Is it broad in its coverage?

A. Major aspects: Yes B. Focused: Yes, very good

Is it neutral?

Fair representation without bias: Yes

Is it stable?

No edit wars, etc: Yep, good on this front.

Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales: Yes, no non-free images. B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions: Yes.

Overall:

Good pass. Article was good, informative and neutral. I fixed a few typos, formatting errors but apart from that, looked good. Woody (talk) 12:58, 11 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Date of Death

For the record his obituary in "The Gentleman's Magazine" gives his date of death as the 26th of June; http://books.google.com/books?id=MPgRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA272&dq=murray+maxwell+1831 or if that doesn't work http://icanhide.com/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL2Jvb2tzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20vYm9va3M%2FaWQ9TVBnUkFBQUFZQUFKJnBnPVBBMjcyJmRxPW11cnJheSttYXh3ZWxsKzE4MzE%3D . A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen from 1870 says the same; http://books.google.com/books?id=2z8DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA117&dq=murray+maxwell+1831 --Harlsbottom (talk | library | book reviews) 23:54, 14 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that he almost certainly died on 26 June, that is why that was the date I gave in the lead. However, given that two sources give a different date I felt it was worthwhile to record the discrepancy. (By the way, your second link above doesn't appear to work). Regards--Jackyd101 (talk) 08:07, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Date of death is 19th June, according to his coffin plate recovered from St Marylebone crypt in the early 1980s. The burial register for St Marylebone shows he was buried on the 25th June — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.221.0.69 (talk) 14:39, 30 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Copyedit

Back on the job ;) Just a few comments below for your expert attention. EyeSerene^talk 15:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"In April 1808, off Rota, he successfully destroyed a Spanish convoy carrying military stores..." It might help to explain why a Spanish convoy was attacked (them being British allies 'n all during the Peninsular War)

The Spanish were allies of France until May 1808, when they switched sides.

"...in some cases as the first European ships known to have sailed these waters." Added {{fact}} tag, as I think this needs an explicit citation.

"The expedition also made the first known British government contacts with both the Koreans and the Ryukyu Islanders, who had officially been told not to communicate with the British ships." Told by whom? (also, a citation may be needed - tagged, but your call!)

Told either by the Chinese Emperor or in his name by a regional mandarin. I'll find a citation.--Jackyd101 (talk) 02:11, 13 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Was Amherst detained by the Chinese at Whampoa? The article implies that Maxwell was conducting a rescue, but it's not explicitly stated anywhere.

I don't believe that he was detained, I think the problem was that the Chinese did not want a British warship sailing up the river (which was and still is one of the most important transport arteries of their vast nation). Maxwell, being British, assumed he could go whereever he damn well liked, hence conflict. I'll explain it more clearly in the article.

Not sure of the best way to do this, what implies it was a rescue mission exactly?--Jackyd101 (talk) 18:04, 13 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, perhaps I didn't express that very well :P I was curious as to why Amherst wasn't where he said he would be, and why Maxwell felt he had to force a blockade and sail upriver to fetch him. I assumed that Amherst was being prevented from travelling to meet Maxwell for whatever reason. EyeSerene^talk 12:58, 15 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, will get to all the above tomorrow.--Jackyd101 (talk) 02:11, 13 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nice article to read, well done to all who contributed to it. BritishWatcher (talk) 11:41, 16 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]