On Tower Hill Memorial is the name of First Engineer James Laing, serving on S.S. Northumbria (London) with the Mercantile Marine who died 09/01/1919.

Rev. David Youngson has provided the following:

James LAING
Mercantile Marine
First Engineer SS Northumbria
He was the son of Mary Ann Laing and the late Robert Laing.  He was born at North Shields.

A member of 431 St. George’s Lodge, Masonic Hall, Norfolk Street, North Shields, he was Initiated on the 2nd December 1907 aged 30; Passed 24th January 1908 and Raised on the 5th March 1908.

He was the husband of Mary Laing (nee Dowson) of 37 Trevor Terrace, North Shields.

He died on the 9th January 1919 aged 42.  He is remembered on the Tower Hill Memorial, London.

The SS Northumbria  (4215 grt) was built in 1906 by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company Limited, Howdon on Tyne, for Westminster Shipping Company Limited (Sir John Jackson), London.  She was the second ship of this name to be lost during World War One. She struck a mine off Middlesbrough. What is believed to be the only lifeboat that got clear of the vessel was washed ashore at Newton by the Sea on the Northumberland Coast with two survivors and twelve dead, some of whom are buried in the nearby Embleton Churchyard. It has been suggested that the boat had no rowlocks, hence it drifted so far.

James Laing is remembered at North Shields on N34.77, at Tynemouth in T36.14 page 35, in the Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-18 (London)  and in our List of Ships’ Crews.