Stuart Laing (diplomat)

Stuart Laing (born 22 July 1948)[1] is a former British diplomat and was Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 2008 to 2018.

Stuart Laing
16th British Ambassador to Kuwait
In office
2005–2008
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Gordon Brown
Preceded byChris Wilton
Succeeded byMichael Aron
9th British Ambassador to Oman
In office
2002–2005
Preceded bySir Ivan Callan
Succeeded byNoel Guckian
13th British High Commissioner to Brunei
In office
1998–2002
Preceded bySir Ivan Callan
Succeeded byAndrew Caie

Career as diplomat

Laing entered the diplomatic service in 1970. During his service in the Diplomatic Service, Laing held the following offices:[2]

Academic career

Laing graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1970 having studied Classics.[3] He was appointed Master of his old college Corpus Christi on 1 October 2008 succeeding Oliver Rackham,[4] and retired from that position in August 2018. He researches and writes on Arab and East African history and in 2012 he published, jointly with Robert Alston, Unshook till the end of time, a book on the history of Britain's relationship with Oman.[5][6] The degree of M.Phil. was conferred to him in 2013[7] for a thesis on the ending of the slave trade in the Indian Ocean.[8] In 2017 he published a biography of the ivory trader Tippu Tip (Hamed bin Mohammed al-Murjabi).[9][10]

Personal life

Laing is a keen amateur musician; he plays keyboard instruments and the oboe. His other recreations are desert travel and hill-walking.[11] Laing is married to Sibella (daughter of Sir Maurice Henry Dorman, herself a graduate in History of Newnham College, Cambridge) and has a son and two daughters.[4]

References
  2. "Her Majesty's Ambassador". The National Archives. Archived from the original on 10 October 2006. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  3. Announcement of new Master for Corpus Christi College (3 June 2008) University of Cambridge
  4. Mastership Announcement Corpus Christi College
  5. Alston, Robert; Laing, Stuart (2017). Unshook Till the End of Time: A History of Relations Between Britain & Oman 1650 - 1970. Gilgamesh Publishing. ISBN 978-1-908531-76-6.
  6. Heard, David (2 September 2014). "Robert Alston and Stuart Laing. Unshook till the End of Time: A History of Relations between Britain & Oman 1650-1970 (Book Review)". Asian Affairs. 45 (3): 503–505. doi:10.1080/03068374.2014.953881. S2CID 162202852.
  7. Cambridge University Reporter No 6307, Vol cxliii No 30 (15 May 2013)
  8. Factors in the decisions by the sultans of Muscat and Zanzibar to end the slave trade and slavery in their dominions, 1820-1900 / Stuart Laing : University of Cambridge. Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, 2012.
  9. Laing, Stuart (2017). Tippu Tip: Ivory, Slavery and Discovery in the Scramble for Africa. Medina Publishing. ISBN 978-1-911487-05-0.
  10. Mathews, Nathaniel (March 2019). "The Life of Tippu Tip. Tippu Tip: Ivory, Slavery, and Discovery in the Scramble for Africa. By Stuart Laing. (Book Review)". The Journal of African History. 60 (1): 121–122. doi:10.1017/S0021853719000070. ISSN 0021-8537. LCCN 63005723. OCLC 1039207112. S2CID 181896696.
  11. "Mr Stuart Laing, MA MPhil". Corpus Christi College. 1 October 2008. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.


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