Senate and a trustee of the British Museum and the National Gallery. He lived at Keir House near Dunblane. He was a breeder of shorthorns and Clydesdale horses, an ardent bibliographer and collector of works of art. He died on holiday in Venice on 15 January 1878 but his body was returned to Britain and he is buried in the Lecropt Churchyard near Stirling. Marriages and issue He married firstly Lady Anna Maria Leslie-Melville (died 8 December 1874), daughter of David Leslie-Melville, 8th Earl of Leven and Elizabeth Anne Campbell, and had, at least: Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet, of Pollok Brigadier General Archibald Stirling, of Keir (14 September 186718 February 1931), married on 14 April 1910 The Hon. Margaret Mary Fraser (25 June 18814 August 1972), daughter of Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat and Alice Mary Weld-Blundell, and had six children: William Joseph Stirling, of Keir (9 May 19111983), married on 22 November 1940 Susan Rachel Bligh (12 August 19161983), daughter of The Hon. Noel Gervase Bligh and Mary Frost and granddaughter of Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley and Florence Rose Morphy, and had five children: Archibald Hugh Stirling, of Keir (born 18 September 1941) James Joseph Stirling (1943–1943) Hannah Ann Stirling (born 29 May 1944), married on 7 January 1970 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury (born 30 September 1946) Magdalen Stirling (born 25 November 1945), married in 1969 Patrick Petit, and had issue John Alexander Stirling (born 26 February 1948), married first in 1971 Susan Black, without issue, and married secondly in 1985 Olivia Louise Waller, and had three children: Joseph Patrick William Stirling (born 1985) Christabel Georgia Stirling (born 1987) Hugh David Archibald Stirling (born 1993) Peter John Stirling (born 1 February 1913), married on 6 February 1963 Mahin Feli Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling (15 November 19154 November 1990) Hugh Joseph Stirling (4 May 1917k.i.a., World War II, Libya, 22 April 1941), unmarried and without issue Margaret Elizabeth Mary Stirling (4 July 19149 February 1997), married on 26 June 1940 Simon Ramsay, 16th Earl of Dalhousie (17 October 19141999) Irene Katharine Teresa Stirling (9 March 19191992) In March 1877, Stirling Maxwell married secondly noted author and society figure Caroline Norton, a granddaughter of the famous Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. She died three months later. Selected publications Anonymous Songs of the Holy Land (privately printed, 1846) An Essay towards a Collection of Books Relating