Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/128



against me; he told them I was not capable of teaching them, and insinuated that none was but himself' (, Journal, 7 Jan. 1763). Whether Maxfield was or was not one of the 'two or three' of Bell's friends whom Wesley met and tried to convince of the falsity of the prophecy does not appear. He subsequently denied his own belief in it, and charged Wesley himself with sharing in it.

Maxfield's conduct rendered a schism in the society inevitable. In February 1763 he practically told Wesley 'You take too much upon you.' He was deaf to all Wesley's arguments respecting the danger of separation (, Works, xii. 116-17), and on 28 April he fully and finally separated himself from Wesley, taking Bell and about two hundred others with him. He was now chosen preacher by a society in Snow's Fields, whence he removed two or three years later to Ropemakers' Alley, Moorfields. There he had a large congregation. He finally set up in Princes Street, Moorfields, where he preached till about 1767. From the time of his secession Maxfield became Wesley's worst enemy. 'He spake all manner of evil of me, his father, his friend, his greatest earthly benefactor.'

In February 1770 he met Wesley once more at the Countess of Huntingdon's house in Portland Row, where he preached against the doctrine of Christian perfection, of which he had formerly been a zealous upholder. Two years later he professed to desire a reunion. Wesley saw him, but his confidence in him was not restored (, iii. 115).

In 1778 Maxfield published a pamphlet charging the Wesleys with turning the hearts of the people from Whitefield during his absence in America, and John Wesley replied with 'A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Maxfield, occasioned by a late Publication.' In 1779 there was more talk of reunion. Charles Wesley insisted that an acknowledgment on Maxfield's part of his 'fault' was a needful preliminary. Wesley still expressed much personal affection for him (ib. p. 296, from Methodist Magazine, 1826 and 1789), but nothing came of the negotiations. Wesley, nevertheless, visited Maxfield in his last illness, and preached in his chapel (, Works, iv. 132). Maxfield died at his house in Moorfields on 18 March 1784.

He married Elizabeth Branford, a lady of means, who was one of Whitefield's earliest followers. She died on 23 Nov. 1777, and left a family.

Maxfield was a man of some ability, and an eloquent preacher. Fletcher of Madeley wrote to Charles Wesley, a few months after his secession: 'I believe him sincere; and though obstinate and suspicious. I am persuaded he has a true desire to know the will and live the life of God' (, ii. 464).

A portrait of Maxfield 'preaching' was twice painted by T. Beach, and engraved in one case by P. Dawe, and in the other by Houston. A third portrait of him 'with his wife and family' was executed in 1772 (, Catalogue of Portraits, p. 365).

Maxfield published: 1. 'A Short Account of Mr. Murgetroyd during the Last Month of his Life,' &c., Bath, 1771. 2. 'A Short Account of the Particular Circumstances of the Life and Death of William Davies, who was Executed 11 Dec. 1776, with his Speech at Tyburn,' &c., London, 1776. 3. 'A Short Account of God's Dealings with Mrs. Elizabeth Maxfield' (his wife), 1778, 8vo. This contains three letters to her from Whitefield, dated 16 Jan. 1738, 16 Nov. 1738 (from Kilrush), and 3 Nov. 1739 (Philadelphia). 4. 'A Short Account of the Circumstances that Happened the Last Seven Days before the Death of T. Sherwood,' 1778. Also 'A Collection of Psalms and Hymns extracted from various Authors,' 1778, 12mo; and a sermon, 'Christ the Great Gift of God and the Nature of Faith in Him,' 1769.

[Tyerman's Life of Wesley, 3 vols. passim; Larrabee's Wesley and his Coadjutors, ed. Tefft, i. 217-19, 264; Jackson's Life of Charles Wesley, ii. 207, 218; New's Memorials of the Countess of Huntingdon, pp. 32-4, 226; Overton's John Wesley, pp. 163-4; Bogue and Bennett's Hist. Prot. Dissenters, 2nd edit. ii. 35; Wilson's Dissenting Churches, iv. 283; Gent. Mag. 1784, i. 239; Brit. Mus. Cat.]  MAXSE, HENRY BERKELEY FITZHARDINGE (1832–1883), governor of Heligoland, the son of James Maxse (d. 1864) of Effingham Hill, Surrey, and Caroline, daughter of the fifth Earl of Berkeley, was born in 1832, and entered the army on 1 June 1849 as a lieutenant in the grenadier guards, changing on 11 June 1852 to the 13th light dragoons, and on 6 July to the 21st foot. He became captain in the Coldstream guards on 29 Dec. 1854, and in the same year was ordered to the Crimea; he served throughout the war on the staff of the Earl of Cardigan, was present at the Alma, Balaclava (where he was wounded), and the siege of Sebastopol, and won the Crimean medal and clasps, besides Turkish medals and the decoration of the fifth class of the Medjidie. In 1855 he became a major. In 1863 he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel in the army, out of which he sold on 22 Dec. 1813. In 1863 he went to Heligoland as lieutenant-governor,