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Eric Frank O’Hara Maxwell

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Subject :Eric Frank O’Hara Maxwell
Published By : Published by Schiffmann, Heer & Co. Edited By Arnold Wright & H.A. Cartwright 
Location : Ipoh
Estimated Year : 1906
Media Type : Photograph
Source : Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, Book / ipohWorld Library
Remark : Eric Frank O’Hara Maxwell, a lawyer and younger brother of George Maxwell, as he was known, (later Sir William George) was the third son of Sir William Maxwell, the British Resident of Selangor and Acting Governor of the Straits Settlements from 1893 to 1894. Brother George Maxwell started in Malaya in 1891 as Acting Chief Clerk in the Kinta Land office, but by 1920 had become Chief Secretary to the Federated Malay states, a post previously known as Resident-General.

Eric Maxwell came to Singapore as an articled clerk in the legal offices of Drew and Napier, one of the oldest legal firms on the island, having been founded in 1889. He took up legal practice with the company in 1899. However, he soon decided to move to greater opportunities in the busy mining town of Ipoh and on arrival in Ipoh in 1902, he took up a partnership as Presgrave, Matthews and Maxwell, although he was the only Ipoh based lawyer in the firm, his partners both being based in Penang. They dealt mainly with the companies which were formed to invest in tin mining and rubber planting.

In 1903, Eric Maxwell, was the driving force behind the formation of the Ipoh Gymkhana Club and in March 1904 was elected the first President of the Club. The first gymkhana took place in July the same year.

Four years after his arrival in Ipoh, Eric Maxwell branched out and formed a partnership with Arthur Noel Kenion naming the firm, Maxwell and Kenion. They became the leading legal firm in Ipoh, managing the estates of Royalty and nobility including that of Datoh Panglima Kinta. When Maxwell retired in 1911 the name continued with Kenion’s two brothers joining as partners.

To read more about Sir William George Maxwell, click here.

To read more about the Ipoh Gymkhana Club, click here.

To read more about Datoh Panglima Kinta Muhammad Yusuff, click here.

Filename : 20090125-022