Lafont was a member of the Institutes of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, and was chairman of the Calcutta section of the latter from 1889. Appointed a follow of Calcutta University in 1877, he took an active part in the work of the senate, filling at various times the offices of syndic (thrice), dean of the arts faculty (1904–7), and president of the board of studios in physics (1904–6). At the jubilee celebrations of the university in March 1908 he received the honorary degree of D.Sc. He had been created C.I.E. on 1 Jan. 1880, and was made an officer of the French Academy, while in 1898 the king of the Belgians made him a knight of the order of Leopold. His devotion to science, his constant labour for the welfare of the 'domiciled' white community, his gentleness, and his charm of manner won him general esteem. He died at Darjeeling on 10 May 1908, and was buried there.
[Journ. Inst. of Elect. Eng. vol. xxxxi. no. 192, 1908; The Times, 11 May 1908; Englishman (Calcutta), weekly edit., 14 and 21 May 1908.]
LAIDLAW, ANNA ROBENA, afterwards Mrs. Thomson (1819–1901), pianist, daughter of Alexander Laidlaw, a merchant, by his wife Ann Keddy, was born at Bretton, Yorkshire, on 30 April 1819. Her family, who were intimate with Sir Walter Scott, claimed connection with the Laidlaws of Chapelhope and Glenrath; Scott's Willie Laidlaw and James Hogg's wife, Margaret Laidlaw, were kinsfolk (cf. Patterson's Schumann, 1903). In 1827 Robena Laidlaw went to Edinburgh, where she studied music with Robert Müller. Her family removed to Königsberg in 1830, and there she continued her musical studios under Georg Tag, subsequently taking lessons from Henri Herz, in London, in 1834. In that year she played at William IV's court and at Paganini's farewell concert. Returning to Germany, she gave pianoforte recitals in Berlin with much applause, and visited Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Dresden, and Vienna. She made the acquaintance of Schumann, who dedicated to her his 'Fantasiestücke,' Op. 12, and wrote of her playing at the Gewandhaus Hall, Leipzig, in July 1837, as 'thoroughly good and individual.' 'This artiste,' he added, 'in whose culture are united English solidity and natural amiability, mil remain a treasured memory to all who have made her closer acquaintance' (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 11 July 1837). Several letters were addressed to her by Schumann, one of which is given in facsimile in Dr. Patterson's biography of the oomposer (pp. 106, 107). At Schumann's suggestion she transposed, as being more 'Musical,' the original order of her Christian names, from Robena Anna to Anna Robena. She was appointed pianist to the Queen of Hanover, and remained in Germany until 1840, when she settled in London. After her marriage to George Thomson in 1852 she retired from public life. She died in London on 29 May 1901, and was buried at Woking after cremation. She had four daughters.
[Mendel's Musikalisches Conversationa-Lexikon, 1875; Dr. Annio W. Patterson's Schumann, 1903; Zeitschrift Int. Mus. Ges. iii. 188 ff.; Rellstab's Life of Ludwig Berger, 1846; Grove's Dict. of Music, 1906, ii. 622; information from her daughter, Miss Robena Thomson.]
LAIDLAW, JOHN (1832–1906), presbyterian divine and theologian, born in Edinburgh on 7 April 1832, was only child of Walter Laidlaw by his wife Margaret Brydon. His ancestors for generations were sheep farmers. He studied at the Normal School of Edinburgh, with a view to the teaching profession, but ultimately decided to prepare for the ministry. At Edinburgh University, where he matriculated in October 1851, he distinguished himself in classics, mathematics, and philosophy, winning four gold medals, and carried off (1853) Sir William Hamilton's [q. v.] prize in philosophy and the Bulwer-Lytton [q. v.] prize for an essay on the relations of mind and matter. In 1854 he was made M.A. honoris causa.
After spending three sessions in the divinity hall of the Reformed Prosbyterian church, Laidlaw in 1856 joined the Free church of Scotland and studied for two sessions (1856-8) at New College, Edinburgh. During the summer of 1858 he attended classes at Heidelberg and other German universities, and in the following year began his ministry at Bannockburn. On 6 August 1863 he was inducted to the Free West church, Perth, where the membership greatly increased under his charge. A handsome church was built, and he made his mark as an evangelical preacher. In 1868 he declined an invitation to become colleague to Dr. Robert Smith Candlish [q. v.]. From 1872 to 1881 he was minister of the Free West church, Aberdeen. On 25 May 1881 he was appointed to the chair of systematic theology in New College, Edinburgh; he held the post until 1904.
