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A History Of Maxwell, Kenion, Cowdy And Jones
This photocopied A5 booklet, written by James Devadason our donor in November 1996, charts the history of this famous local legal firm Maxwell, Kenion, Cowdy and Jones and its very beginnings - two earlier Ipoh companies, Maxwell & Kenion and Cowdy & Jones. The following is a brief introduction to the fascinating story.
Maxwell & Kenion was founded by Eric Frank O'Hara Maxwell who in 1901 was the sole legal partner in Ipoh of the firm Presgrave, Mathews and Maxwell with premises in Belfield Street and in 1902 started a practice of his own, also in Belfield Street. which then moved to Panglima Street in 1903 and Hale Street in 1904. Two years later he invited his legal assistant Arthur Noel Kenion into partnership with him. The firm of Maxwell & Kenion was born++. It was 1906.
Cowdy & Jones was founded in 1915, also with an office in Hale Street facing the Ipoh Padang. Henry Lloyd Cowdy had originally partnered one Rowan Shaw, both from Ireland, but when the latter was killed in the war, Cowdy joined with the Jones brothers Harry and Edgar and Cowdy & Jones existed. However on 18 June 1925 Cowdy was killed in a motoring accident at the intersection of Anthony Road and Anderson Road, Ipoh. He was 44 and the partnership needed another lawyer and the slot was filled by another Irishman from Dublin, John Lowe Woods, in early1925.
In 1941 the Japanese invaded Malaya and the following year both Kenion and Woods found themselves interned in Changi Prison where they formed a partnership and agreed that whoever survived should take over the other's firm. Kenion died shortly after. Consequently after the surrender of the Japanese and a short period of recuperation from the rigours of the prison camp, John L Woods returned to Ipoh and reformed the two companies into Maxwell, Kenion, Cowdy and Jones. He passed away in February 1956.
Maxwell, Kenion, Cowdy and Jones continue to practise in Ipoh today (2013).
To read more about John L Woods, click here.
To see a photograph and details of the staff of Maxwell, Kenion, Cowdy & Jones in 1953, click here.
To read more about Eric O'Hara Maxwell, click here.
To read the diary of a Japanese Prisoner of War (e-Book), click here.