The Laing Family

From 'My Childhood and Army Years'
by Alexander Fullerton Laing
(also known as Derry, Secundus, Sandy or Alex)
(second son of Alexander Fullerton Laing 1898-1935)

Let me start by talking about my father's names. He was born Alexander Fullerton and when his mother remarried to a Mr Laing following her first husband's death, Alec added the surname. No one in our family has his birth certificate¹ but the certificate of marriage² to Elizabeth Jane Dunn, Jen in this history and our mother-to-be, gives his year of birth as 1898. Jen's book of birthdays gives for Alec 13th August 1898 and Shakespeare's moving quotation 'It is not night when I do see your face'.

Accordingly Alec was barely sixteen when the Great War started. Jen told me that he served in France throughout the War so I assume he joined as a boy soldier, unless he lied about his age as did many of those ill-fated youth. Jen also mentioned that when walking across a field in the dark they disturbed a small herd of horses and that she was terrified as they galloped by, but Alec was unmoved having worked with horse-drawn artillery.

As to Alec post-war I have no details save that his address at marriage is recorded as Barrasford Sanitorium and (save the mark) his rank or profession, as 'shipyard stager'. The sanitorium at that time was the local TB hospital and as a stager he erected the towering wooden platforms surrounding a vessel on which riveters, platers and other tradesmen worked. During the summer the work would be pleasant, but in winter could be cold and wet and no means of drying except by standing near a riveter's brazier. This may have started Alec's tuberculosis after the stress of war. I suspect that on leaving the sanitorium he was advised to seek office employment.

Alec's formal education was limited and very likely Jen inspired in him some of her love of the English language. A WEA tutor³ described him as 'the ablest of an able class … in 1924/5 …' and commends also his administrative ability in WEA work. His own library included Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon and an appreciation of Michael Collins. During the general strike of 1926, when I was barely four years old, I was lifted onto a platform, surrounded by a sea of faces, where Alec was addressing a meeting on the Town Moor. Jen also told me that in the early 1920s he worked as an assistant political agent for Pat Hastings who was standing as a Labour candidate on Tyneside. When I came to read the biography of Sir Patrick Hastings many years later I learned that he had indeed won the Wallsend seat in 1922 and again in 1923 after the general election of that year. After serving as a private soldier in the Boer War Hastings qualified for the Bar and in 1924 was appointed Attorney General. I like to think that in appointing his agents he saw in Alec something of his own youth and a maturity and talent beyond his years.

Notes

1. Since this was written, Alec Laing's birth certificate has been obtained.
2. See a copy of the marriage certificate of Alec Laing and Jen Dunn.
3. See a copy of the reference dated 20th January 1926 for Mr. A.F. Laing (1898-1935).

About the Website

Before the 2002 reunion, Margaret Laing, wife of Alex (Derry), drew out the family tree of the six Laing brothers and their parents and their descendants. At Margaret's request, I copied it onto a large sheet of paper and more information was added at the reunion.

I had been planning to draw an updated version of the tree before the 2003 reunion. It then occurred to me that if I uploaded it to the Internet, it would be available for any members of the family to see at any time, and it could easily be amended. I would not have to draw it out again every year! (See the family tree of the Descendants of Alexander Fullerton Laing (1898-1935) and Elizabeth Jane Dunn (1893-1968).)

I added some of the photographs, Alan Laing's e-mail message and the photographs which were attached to it. Margaret Laing, wife of Alex, obtained the birth certificates and marriage certificates which have been copied to the website. Joan Laing, wife of Neil, obtained the 1901 Census information. From the certificates and the census information it was possible to derive the family tree of the Ancestors of Alexander Fullerton Laing (1898-1935) and Elizabeth Jane Dunn (1893-1968).

The excerpt from Alex Laing's (born 1922) memoirs includes an explanation of the change of surname from Fullerton to Laing, as well as some information about his father.

On 31 October 2008 AOL closed its free web space and many small web sites which resided there, including this Laing Family website. This website has been moved temporarily to web space used by another genealogy website. One day it might have its own domain name and its own web space.

Miles

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