James Shaw Maxwell known as Shaw Maxwell, was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 socialist activist.

Born in Glasgow, Maxwell joined the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 and worked as a lithographer and journalist. He left the Liberals in 1880 in opposition to their local opposition to Irish nationalism

Irish nationalism

Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...

, and became a leading supporter of Henry George

Henry George

Henry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land...

 and an activist in the Scottish Land Restoration League

Scottish Land Restoration League

The Scottish Land Restoration League was a Georgist political party in Scotland.In the 1880s, enclosure was still in process in the Scottish Highlands, and resistance to it often received support from radicals around Britain and Ireland...

.

Maxwell stood unsuccessfully for Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown

Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown (UK Parliament constituency)

Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown, representing parts of the city of Glasgow, Scotland, was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1918....

 at the 1885 UK general election. In 1888, he attended the founding meeting of the Scottish Labour Party and was appointed as the first chairman of its executive. Along with most of the organisation's members, he joined the Independent Labour Party

Independent Labour Party

The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...

 (ILP) on its formation in 1893, and served as its first Secretary. He stood again in Blackfriars and Hutchesontown at the 1895 UK general election, this time for the ILP, and again without success. However, he did managed to get elected to Glasgow City Council in 1896. He led a successful campaign for free libraries in the city, and for the opening of museums and art galleries on Sundays, to increase the number of workers able to attend.