Stuart Laing (diplomat) explained

Office:16th British Ambassador to Kuwait
Term Start:2005
Term End:2008
Predecessor:Chris Wilton
Successor:Michael Aron
Primeminister:Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
Office1:9th British Ambassador to Oman
Term Start1:2002
Term End1:2005
Predecessor1:Ivan Callan
Successor1:Noel Guckian
Office2:13th British High Commissioner to Brunei
Term Start2:1998
Term End2:2002
Predecessor2:Ivan Callan
Successor2:Andrew Caie
Birth Date:1948 7, df=yes
Occupation:Diplomat

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

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, 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.[4] [5] The degree of M.Phil. was conferred to him in 2013[6] for a thesis on the ending of the slave trade in the Indian Ocean.[7] In 2017 he published a biography of the ivory trader Tippu Tip (Hamed bin Mohammed al-Murjabi).[8] [9]

Personal life

Laing is a keen amateur musician; he plays keyboard instruments and the oboe. His other recreations are desert travel and hill-walking.[10] 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.[11]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/press-release/2005/05/fco_npr_290405_changhcommkuwait
  2. Web site: Her Majesty's Ambassador . The National Archives . 22 July 2022 . 10 October 2006 . http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20061010000827/http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1060854666575 . live .
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606195821/http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/press/dpp/2008060506 Announcement of new Master for Corpus Christi College
  4. Book: Alston . Robert . Laing . Stuart . Unshook Till the End of Time: A History of Relations Between Britain & Oman 1650 - 1970 . 2017 . Gilgamesh Publishing . 978-1-908531-76-6 .
  5. Heard . David . Robert Alston and Stuart Laing. Unshook till the End of Time: A History of Relations between Britain & Oman 1650-1970 (Book Review) . . 2 September 2014 . 45 . 3 . 503–505 . 10.1080/03068374.2014.953881 . 162202852 .
  6. https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2012-13/weekly/6307/6307_public.pdf Cambridge University Reporter
  7. 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.
  8. Book: Laing . Stuart . Tippu Tip: Ivory, Slavery and Discovery in the Scramble for Africa . 2017 . Medina Publishing . 978-1-911487-05-0 .
  9. Mathews . Nathaniel . The Life of Tippu Tip. Tippu Tip: Ivory, Slavery, and Discovery in the Scramble for Africa. By Stuart Laing. (Book Review). . March 2019 . 60 . 1 . 121–122 . 10.1017/S0021853719000070. 181896696 . 63005723. 1039207112. 0021-8537.
  10. Web site: Mr Stuart Laing, MA MPhil . Corpus Christi College . 2008-10-01 . 2016-11-25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161126075250/http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/fellowship/master/ . 26 November 2016 . dmy-all .
  11. https://web.archive.org/web/20080703224919/http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/oldmembers/news.php?newid=144 Mastership Announcement