Captain Reverend Alexander Laing

Captain the Reverend Alexander Torrance Laing, 13th ( Service )  Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He died of wounds  in France on 24th July 1916, aged 27 during the Battle of the Somme. He was the son of James and Jacobina Laing of Mizen Head, Bamburgh and is buried in St Sever Cemetery, Rouen. He had graduated M.A. Cantab and was a Deacon in Holy Orders. There is a bronze Plaque to his Memory on the wall of the North Aisle in St Aiden’s Church in Bamburgh. It reads ” To the glory of God and in loving memory of Alexander Torrance Laing, M.A. Cantab, Deacon Captain 13th Northumberland Fusiliers. He was mortally wounded in action on 3rd July while leading his men near Fricourt and died at Rouen on 24th July, aged 27. A brave soldier in Christ “. ( There are several instances of men of the cloth becoming combatant soldiers and Captain Laing appears to be one of them. The Reverend Robert Thomson, the Minister at Coldstream joined the Black Watch and he was wounded in action in 1917 and discharged when he then resumed his duties in Coldstream Parish Church). The photograph shows troops on the Somme.

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