Samuel Laing (travel writer)

Samuel Laing (1780–1868) from Papdale in Orkney was a Scottish travel writer. He travelled in Scandinavia and northern Germany and published descriptions of these countries. Laing was the first translator of Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson.

Epitaph for Samuel Laing in St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall

He unsuccessfully contested the Orkney and Shetland parliamentary constituency in 1832 against incumbent MP George Traill. Held after the passage of the Great Reform Act, this was the first election in which Shetlanders had the right to vote. Laing had won an early majority of votes counted in Orkney and was initially celebrated as the victor, however the delayed arrival of votes from Shetland produced a majority of 11 for Traill. The loss of Laing's majority provoked a riot in Kirkwall, leading to one fatality. Laing's subsequent attempt to lodge a legal challenge to his defeat was also unsuccessful.[1]

Laing's son, also named Samuel Laing, was a railway administrator and important writer on religion and science, and a Liberal member of parliament. Laing's older brother, Malcolm Laing, was a notable historian. The merchant Gilbert Laing Meason was his older brother as well.