Malcolm Laing - LoveToKnow 1911(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-18)
MALCOLM LAING (1762-1818), Scottish historian, son of Robert Laing, and elder brother of SamuelLaing the elder, was born on his paternal estate on the Mainland of Orkney.
In another dissertation, prefixed to a second and corrected edition of the History published in 1804, Laing endeavoured to prove that Mary, queen of Scots, wrote the Casket Letters, and was partly responsible for the murder of Lord Darnley.
Laing, who was a friend of Charles James Fox, was member of parliament for Orkney and Shetland from 1807 to 1812.
SamuelLaing, (1812 – 1897), was a British railway administrator, politician, and influential writer on science and religion during the Victorian era.
He was the nephew of Malcolm Laing, the historian of Scotland; and his father, also called SamuelLaing (1780-1868), was a well-known author, whose books on Norway and Sweden attracted much attention.
SamuelLaing the younger entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1827, and after graduating as second wrangler and Smith's prizeman, was elected a fellow, and remained at Cambridge temporarily as a coach.
SamuelLaing was a bit like Dr Who: he was constantly re-inventing himself and appearing in a new guise.
Laing’s many books on European countries are seldom read nowadays, but at the time they had a wide readership which included politicians and economists who wanted to be better informed.
Given Laing’s distinguished Orkney career and his international reputation as a writer, it is very regrettable that a few years ago an OIC sub-committee rejected the proposal that he should be commemorated in St Magnus Cathedral along with other writers and poets.
Laing worked with William Gladstone in drafting the 1844 Railway Act.
e Laing became chairman of the London and Brighton Railway in 1848.
Ever since his time in the Railway Department, Laing had supported cheap travel for the poor and was the main figure behind the London and Brighton excursion business.
The Autobiography of SamuelLaing of Papdale, 1780-1868.
ISBN 0-9525350-5-X. SamuelLaing the Elder -- "elder" so he won't be confused with son Samuel, who achieved some modest distinction in his own right-was an unusual and interesting character.
I first came across him while researching into British travel writers to the European continent, of which he was a fairly prolific example.
(sel.) in SamuelLaing, Pre-Historic Remains of Caithness (1866)
Laing consist of the greater part of one skeleton with many portions of others; and comprise nine skulls and fragments of skulls, with four more or less complete pelves belonging to certain of the skulls, besides bones of the limbs and of other regions of the body.
Je ne veux pas encore determiner quelques mesures fixes pour les distinguer; mais, à l'ordinaire, le diamètre longitudinal des dolichcéphales surpasse la largeur d'environ 1/4, tandis que chez les brachycéphales cette difference varie entre 1/5 - 1/8." ("Ethnologische Schriften," p.
