22 Facts About Gavin Maxwell

Gavin Maxwell FRSL FZS FRGS was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters.

Gavin Maxwell became most famous for Ring of Bright Water and its sequels, which described his experiences raising Iraqi and West African otters on the west coast of Scotland.

Gavin Maxwell was the youngest son of Lieutenant-Colonel Aymer Maxwell and Lady Mary Percy, fifth daughter of the seventh Duke of Northumberland.

Gavin Maxwell's paternal grandfather, Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet, was an archaeologist, politician and natural historian.

Gavin Maxwell was born at The House of Elrig near the small village of Elrig, near Port William, in Wigtownshire, south-western Scotland.

Gavin Maxwell's education took place at a succession of preparatory and public schools, including the sporty Heddon Court School at East Barnet, St Cyprian's School, where he found encouragement for his interest in natural history, and Stowe School.

Gavin Maxwell cheated his way through the intermediate exams but passed the final examinations honestly, having crammed the entire three-year course in six weeks.

Gavin Maxwell was invalided out with the rank of Major in 1944.

In 1956, Gavin Maxwell toured the reed marshes of southern Iraq with explorer Wilfred Thesiger, Gavin Maxwell's wife's first cousin once removed.

Since 1948, Gavin Maxwell had been using a borrowed cottage in Sandaig as a writer's retreat.

The book demonstrates the difficulty Gavin Maxwell was having, possibly as a result of his mental state, in remaining focused on one project and the impact that had on his otters, Sandaig and his own life.

Gavin Maxwell published accounts of his experiences in North Africa, including his description of the aftermath of the 1960 Agadir earthquake, in The Rocks Remain.

Gavin Maxwell invited John Lister-Kaye to join him on Eilean Ban to help him build a zoo on the island and work on a book about British wild mammals.

Lister-Kaye accepted the invitation, but both projects were abandoned when Gavin Maxwell died from lung cancer in a hospital in Inverness the following year.

Privately homosexual, Gavin Maxwell married Lavinia Renton on 1 February 1962.

Gavin Maxwell took the otter, called Mijbil, to the London Zoological Society, where it was decided that this was a previously unknown subspecies of smooth-coated otter.

Gavin Maxwell had always wanted an otter as a pet, and at last, I found him a baby European otter which unfortunately died after a week, towards the end of his visit.

Gavin Maxwell was in Basra preparing to go home when I managed to obtain an otter, which I sent to him.

Gavin Maxwell took it to England, and the species was named after him.

The title of his book Ring of Bright Water was taken from the poem "The Marriage of Psyche" by Kathleen Raine, who said in her autobiography that Gavin Maxwell had been the love of her life.

Raine's relationship with Gavin Maxwell deteriorated after 1956 when she indirectly caused the death of Mijbil.

Gavin Maxwell's ashes were placed beneath a boulder at the former site of his house Camusfearna.