James Laidlaw Maxwell senior was born in Scotland in 1836. He studied medicine and took his degree in Scotland. He worked in London at Brompton Hospital and in Birmingham at Birmingham General Hospital. He was also an Elder in the Broad Street Presbyterian Church. He later became the pioneer medical missionary for the English Presbyterian Missionary Society, working in China on the Island of Formosa. He retired to London where he formed and became the first secretary of the Medical Missionary Association. He married Mary Anne Goodall (d. January 1918) of Handsworth on 7th April, 1868 in Hong Kong. Maxwell died in March, 1921. He had two sons, James Preston Maxwell and James Laidlaw Maxwell Jr., both of whom also became medical missionaries. James Preston Maxwell (d. circa 1960-1961) worked in China at Yungchun Hospital, Fukien, 1899-1919, and Changpoo, Amoy. He was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Peking Union Medical College, circa 1920-circa 1940. He married (Edith ) Lilly Isaacson December 1899. She died 14th October, 1954. They had one child, Marjorie (Steen, ne Marjorie Gordon Maxwell), b 1908.
Reference: University of Birmingham, Online Archive Catalogue (http://calm.bham.ac.uk/DServeA/). Accessed April 2002.
From the guide to the Papers of Dr James Laidlaw Maxwell, and his son Dr James Preston Maxwell, [circa 1850s-1950s], (University of Birmingham: Orchard Learning Resources Centre (care of University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department))
