Kwa Geok Choo’s barrister wig, with stand and box

In December 1947, Kwa Geok Choo quietly married Lee Kuan Yew in England. Upon return¬ing to Singapore in 1950, they joined the law firm Laycock and Ong. In 1955 they started their own practice, Lee and Lee, in partnership with Lee’s younger brother, Kim Yew. The firm grew into one of the largest in Singapore and Kwa remained a practising conveyancing lawyer over the next forty years.

Lee Kuan Yew wrote: “My great advantage was I have a wife who could be a sole breadwinner and bring the children up. That was my insurance policy. Without such a wife, I would have been hard-pressed.”