In Scotland, the right to bear arms is rigorously regulated:
The arms at left are the
ancient
arms of Lord Maxwell, Chief of the
Clan Maxwell
.
The more recent chiefs, including the Earls of Nithsdale, bore more complex arms
(the clan has been without a recognised chief ever since
William Maxwell of Carruchan died in 1863).
The physicist
James Clerk Maxwell
would
not
have been
allowed to bear the Maxwell shield without some mark of difference,
although he
was
entitled to use the Clan's
Strap and Buckle Badge
with the Chief's crest
(
A stag couchant before a holly bush Proper
) and motto (
Reviresco
),
and could wear the
Maxwell tartan
.
The arms at right are
most probably
the unregistered arms
which the Maxwells of Middlebie bore before 1672 (when registration
with the
Lyon Office
became compulsory).
The branch was revived by
James'
father,
John Clerk Maxwell
,
who assumed the Maxwell name on inheriting Middlebie
(shortly
after
the birth of his only child).
The Maxwell name had similarly been assumed by
John's
own grandfather,
George Clerk of Penicuik (4th Baronet of Penicuik, son of the Laird of Dumcrieff)
who became known as
George Clerk Maxwell
after he married his first cousin
(in 1735)
Dorothy
,
the only child of the heiress
Agnes Maxwell of Middlebie
,
and
William Clerk
.
However, the pattern had been broken in the middle generation,
since the son of
George Clerk Maxwell
who fathered
John Clerk Maxwell
remained known as
James Clerk
(his 3 children were thus born Clerk).
Because of some obscure rule against holding both estates at Middlebie and Penicuik,
James Clerk's
estate was divided: Middlebie went to
John Clerk Maxwell
,
whereas his brother
George Clerk
got the Clerk property at Penicuik.
Isabella Clerk
, their younger sister, married James Wedderburn and
is the ancestor of the
Wedderburn-Maxwells of Middlebie
who now
bear the above arms quartered with Wedderburn's.
James Clerk Maxwell, his father, his mother, and his wife Katherine are buried
in the ruins of the old chapel
of the village of Parton,
Scotland 
(
the Old Kirk at Parton
)
where there's now a
plaque
in his honor, which reads:
His short life was high in distinguished contributions to
every branch of physical science - heat, light, mechanics.
Above all, by unifying the theories of electricity and
magnetism, he established a sure foundation for
modern physics, electrical engineering and atsronomy,
and prepared the way for radio communication and television.
Maxwell died before his 48
th
birthday, in 1879
(the year Albert Einstein was born).