Stuart Laing (born 22 July 1948)
/ref> is a former British diplomat and was Master of

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

from 2008 to 2018.

Career as diplomat

Laing entered the diplomatic service in 1970. During his service in the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

, Laing held the following offices: * Deputy Ambassador to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

—1989–1992 * Deputy Ambassador to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

—1992–1995 * High Commissioner to Brunei—1998–2002 * Ambassador to Oman—2002–2005 * Ambassador to Kuwait—2005–2008

Academic career

Laing graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1970 having studied

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. He was appointed Master of his old college Corpus Christi on 1 October 2008 succeeding

Oliver Rackham Oliver Rackham (17 October 1939 – 12 February 2015) was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books incl ...

, 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 Robert John Alston, (born 10 February 1938) is a retired British diplomat. Alston was educated at Ardingly College and New College, Oxford. He is Chairman of Governors at Ardingly College. He served as British Ambassador to Oman between (198 ...

, ''Unshook till the end of time'', a book on the history of Britain's relationship with Oman. The degree of M.Phil. was conferred to him in 2013 for a thesis on the ending of the slave trade in the Indian Ocean. In 2017 he published a biography of the ivory trader Tippu Tip (Hamed bin Mohammed al-Murjabi).

Personal life

Laing is a keen amateur musician; he plays keyboard instruments and the oboe. His other recreations are desert travel and hill-walking. Laing is married to Sibella (daughter of Sir

Maurice Henry Dorman Sir Maurice Henry Dorman (7 August 1912 – 26 October 1993) was the representative of the Crown in the then-Commonwealth Realms of Tanganyika, Trinidad and Tobago, Sierra Leone, and Malta. Dorman was born in 1912 and was the eldest son of J ...

, herself a graduate in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

) and has a son and two daughters.Mastership Announcement
'' Corpus Christi College''

References

Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 1948 births Living people Masters of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Brunei Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Oman Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Kuwait {{UK-diplomat-stub