| Logan Memorial | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Situated in front of the Penang High Court, Light Street, George Town, Penang |
| Built | 1872 |
| Built for | James Richardson Logan |
| Architectural style(s) | Gothic |
The Logan Memorial is situated in front of the Penang High Court at Light Street in George Town, Malaysia, and was erected in memory of James Richardson Logan, Scottish lawyer and man of letters, who lived in the Straits Settlements in the 19th century.
James Richardson Logan (1819 – 1869) was a lawyer and advocate, trained in Scottish law, who practised in Penang defending, without charge, the rights of non-Europeans. He was also an eminent scholar, founding and writing articles for the influential Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, and was proprietor of the leading newspaper, the Penang Gazette. [1] [2]
Following the death of Logan on 20 October 1869, a meeting was held at the Exchange Rooms in George Town on 25 November to discuss how to perpetuate his memory, and it was decided to erect a monument in Penang where he lived for 20 years. A committee was appointed to invite and collect subscriptions from the three Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore, [3] and in response, a meeting was held in December, 1869, at the Court House in Singapore, attended by most members of the legal profession, to consider how to express their appreciation, it being resolved that the Singapore Bar would contribute funds for the memorial. [4]
On 15 January 1872, at a meeting of the Logan Memorial Committee in Penang, it was confirmed that they had received news that the memorial was complete, and that its erection would be carried out shortly, and it was probably unveiled later that year. [5]
The memorial is a Gazetted Monument under the Antiquity Act 1976. [6]
The monument, built in the Gothic style, features four female allegorical statues representing the Cardinal Virtues of Temperance, Wisdom, Fortitude, and Justice, and holding symbolic items. It is said that it provided a reminder to the judges and lawyers, who passed by the monument when entering the High Court, to uphold the rule of law. [7]
Around the base of monument is marble plaque containing a side-profile of the head and shoulders of Logan carved in marble, and another which contains a lengthy inscription honouring his life. The opening words of the inscription state:
"This monument is erected by the peoples of the Straits Settlements as a tribute to their respect and gratitude to James Richardson Logan Advocate. F.R.C.S - F.E.S. whose death in the prime of his manhood they regard as a public calamity." [2]
James Wheeler Woodford Birch, commonly known as J. W. W. Birch was a British colonial official who was assassinated in the Malay state of Perak in 1875, an event that led to the outbreak of the Perak War and ultimately to the extension of British political influence over the Malay Peninsula.
Kapitan China Chung Keng Quee was the founder and administrator of modern Taiping in Perak, Malaysia. Appointed "Capitan China" by the British in 1877, he was a millionaire philanthropist and known as an innovator in the mining of tin. He was involved in many other industries including farming, pawnbroking and logging. He was respected by both Chinese and European communities in the early colonial settlement. His survival in the chaotic era owes much to his standing as leader of the Hai San, a Chinese secret society in British Malaya during the time of the Larut Wars (1862–73). a position he is said to have held till early 1884 although in all probability he continued to remain a leading member. The old fort at Teluk Batu was built by him to safeguard the mine that he opened there. He was a member of the Commission for the Pacification of Larut and sat as one of six members of the Advisory Perak State Council appointed by the British. Commenting on the role of the Perak Council, Richard James Wilkinson wrote,
"It is for the reader, in the light of subsequent events, to judge how far the Councillors were right or wrong, and to see for himself who really did the pioneer work of building up the prosperity of Perak. In the published accounts of British rule in Malaya, sufficient prominence has not always been given to the efforts of these early pioneers; the reaper, intent on his own work, is apt to forget the man who sowed. These Council Minutes are the record of the work of the sowers. A study of that record will show how much the State owes to Sir Hugh Low and to his fellow-Councillors, especially Raja Dris, Sir William Maxwell, and the Chinese towkays, Ah Kwi [Chung Keng Quee] and Ah Yam."
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Cheah Tek Soon was a 19th-century Penang businessman, and headman of the Hokkien in Penang, after whom Tek Soon Street was named. He was an active member of the Penang community and the bandstand that was erected near the Town Hall before the Japanese Occupation was his gift to the city.
James Richardson Logan was a lawyer who popularised the name Indonesia after it was coined by the English ethnologist George Windsor Earl. He was an editor of the Penang Gazette and a former student of Earl who in 1850 published the term 'Indu-nesians' to describe the peoples of the region. In 1847, while living in Singapore, Logan founded a scholarly periodical, The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, and both edited and contributed to the journal until 1862.
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Abraham Logan was the owner and editor of the Singapore Free Press. Also a prominent lawyer, having studied law in Edinburgh, Logan played a significant role in the historic transferral of the Straits Settlement to the Colonial Office.
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The North Borneo War Monument is a monument that was erected on 8 May 1923 by the North Borneo Chartered Company in Bond Street, Jesselton, British North Borneo. Originally, it was a memorial for the fallen British soldiers in World War I but later extended to include the Australian soldiers in World War II. The monument stands today in the city park of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah.
The Queen Victoria Memorial in George Town, Penang is a monument to Queen Victoria, begun after her death, located at the Penang Chinese Recreation Club. Penang's Victoria Memorial takes the form of a large piece of land known as "Victoria Green," and a statue at the edge of Victoria Green at the junction of Burmah Road and Pangkor Road, the establishment of each being years apart from the other. The grounds were purchased and set up in 1903 and the statue unveiled in 1930, nearly three decades later.
The Penang High Court, founded in 1808, is the birthplace of Malaysia's judiciary system. It is housed inside a Palladian-style building at Light Street, George Town, Penang. To this day, the High Court sits at the top of Penang's hierarchy of courts.
Light Street is the oldest road in the city of George Town within the Malaysian state of Penang. It was named after the founder of Penang, Captain Francis Light. As the epicentre of George Town, the street was created soon after Light established the settlement in 1786 and has been serving as a major thoroughfare within the city centre ever since.
The Town Hall is a British-built administrative building in George Town, Penang, Malaysia. It is located adjacent to the City Hall, which now serves as the seat of the Penang Island City Council.
George Town, the capital city of the state of Penang, is the second largest city in Malaysia and the economic centre of the country's northern region. The history of George Town began with its establishment by Captain Francis Light of the British East India Company in 1786. Founded as a free port, George Town became the first British settlement in Southeast Asia and prospered in the 19th century as one of the vital British entrepôts within the region. It briefly became the capital of the Straits Settlements, a British crown colony which also consisted of Singapore and Malacca.
Frederick George Penney or Frederick Gordon Penney was a colonial administrator. He was a cadet of Straits Settlement in 1876 and retired as the Colonial Secretary of Straits Settlements in 1906.
The Francis Light statue is a memorial to Captain Francis Light (1740–1794), the founder of the British colony of Penang in 1786. It is situated in the grounds of Fort Cornwallis, George Town, Penang, Malaysia.
