John Laing (businessman)

Sir John William Laing (1879–1978) was a British entrepreneur in the construction industry. He inherited his father John's building business – which is now known as John Laing plc – in the early 1900s.

John William Laing was born in Carlisle in 1879. His paternal family are from Scotland. His great-grandfather David Laing had come to England in 1800 and lived in the Cumberland village of Sebergham. He was a builder who employed several labourers within the local area. He married and had eight children and built his own house. His eldest son was called James and he followed his father into the building trade: James also persuaded his father to move to Carlisle.

The family and business prospered due to the boom in the country caused by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The war necessitated the construction of many new Woollen mills in the local areas close to the Laing’s business creating much work and a considerable growth in the value of their business. However the war time boom soon turned down and the Laing’s construction business had no contracts. It was around this time that John’s mother and father converted to the Plymouth Brethren.

John went to school in the village of Sebergham. where he excelled and was quickly moved up two forms due to his aptitude. He left the grammar school and although he was academically talented and could have gone on to further education, he joined his father's business learning the trade from the bottom up. John Laing married Sarah Wood who was the daughter of a local farming family.

Laing followed his father into the construction business, expanding it from a local building firm to open a London office in 1920. Under his leadership, the firm became a national enterprise that culminated in the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral, whose consecration Laing attended in May 1962.

Laing gave the company its evangelical direction, which included pioneering ideas that nurtured staff, such as paid holidays, in the early part of the 20th century.

In 1922 he gave almost 40% of his shareholding in the business to a charitable foundation. He retired from the business in 1957, was knighted in 1959 and died in 1978.

Laing married Beatrice Harland in September 1910. His sons William Kirby Laing and John Maurice Laing and his grandson Martin Laing continued the family business.

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