Papers of William Edward Maxwell

The papers consist of a single letter from John Haffenden, Malaysian Agency, British and Foreign Bible Society, to William Edward Maxwell to send two copies of the "Acts of the Apostle" in Malay (Arabic character) which had been printed in Europe by the Society. Haffenden asks Maxwell for his opinion on the type with which the book has been printed. The letter is dated Singapore, 18 January 1889.

William Edward Maxwell, born in 1846, was the son of Sir Peter Benson Maxwell, the Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements. Maxwell followed in his father's footsteps, training in the legal profession and working within colonial administration. In 1883, Maxwell was appointed Commissioner of Land Titles in the Straits Settlements, and, therefore, Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils of those Settlements. In 1889, he was appointed the Resident of Selangor. He became the Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements in 1892, and was acting governor from 30 August 1893 to 1 February 1894. During this time Maxwell was actively involved with the Singapore Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, serving as President, Vice-President, and Editor of the Journal, to which he contributed a number of articles. He was avidly interested in the Malay language.

In 1895, he was transferred to be Governor of the Gold Coast (Ghana). Maxwell died at sea, from malaria, near the Canary Isles, in 1897, and was buried at sea. He requested that all his private papers and diaries were burnt. Fortunately, this did not include the many manuscripts which he had collected. These were bequeathed to the Royal Asiatic Society.

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It is unknown how the letter became part of the Society's collections. However Maxwell made a large bequest of Malay manuscripts to the Society. It is likely that the letter came with these.

This material was catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2022.

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The letter was sent to William Edward Maxwell when he British resident at Selangor.

Maxwell's bequest was of a large number of Malay manuscripts which now form part of the Library's collections. Several of these have been digitised and can be viewed here.