Saints CVs – John Laing 1879-1978

John Laing was a builder who positioned his firm to become one of Britain’s largest civil engineering companies in the 20th century, with a listing on the London Stock Exchange. When Laing left school to join the Carlisle-based family construction business, it was simply involved in the local building trade. Although his father was the owner, Laing served as an ordinary apprentice for three years, learning bricklaying and other practical construction skills. After this, he was promoted to become a project manager in his late teens, rising to company director of John Laing & Son pic by 1920.¹ However, Laing had already made a much more important commitment in his life; he had taken the important step of trusting the Lord Jesus as Saviour when he was a child of seven.

An engineering contract in Barrow proved particularly challenging in 1907. There was a law case which, if he lost, would have led to the family being bankrupted. However, Laing emerged relatively unscathed financially; the legal finding was that the original contract had been unfair against; Laing’s company. During this stressful period of uncertainty, Laing made a solemn commitment before the Lord, to ‘make Him a participating partner in his business’.² Once the legal case was concluded, Laing wrote down his ‘programme for life’, which he summarized as being: ‘First, the centre of my life was to be God - God as seen in Jesus Christ; secondly, I was going to enjoy life, and help others to enjoy it’.³ He also drew up a financial plan, in which he pledged to give to the Lord increasingly large proportions of his money as his annual income grew

Laing’s company became a national player, moving from simple construction work into complex civil engineering projects. They put up large housing estates, major highways, and factories. This increasing success led to growing profits. During World War II, his company built airfields, secret RAF Bomber Command headquarters, and the famous Mulberry Harbours for the D-Day landings. Post-war reconstruction work included the new Coventry Cathedral, after the original cathedral was ruined by wartime bombing raids. Queen Elizabeth II awarded Laing a knighthood for this project, which he insisted his firm would complete on a non-profit making basis. He followed the same selfless principle for other church building projects.

The company looked after its employees well, in keeping with the philosophy of the director. Laing ensured staff enjoyed holidays with pay, a company pension, and bonus payments when appropriate. Such benefits were not common at the time.

His massive financial success led to increasing generosity in supporting Christian work in the UK and around the world. He set up several charitable trusts for this purpose. The gifts disbursed by his trusts total more than £200 million, according to publicly available records.⁴ The trusts continue to operate long after Laing’s death in 1978. Despite all the wealth he had generated in his lifetime, when he died Laing’s personal possessions were valued at merely £371.⁵

John Laing was first and foremost a builder. But he didn’t only work in brick and concrete. His construction materials were also ‘gold, silver, precious stones’, 1 Cor. 3. 12. These durable contributions will outlast time and count for eternity. Laing’s life experience teaches us that it’s possible for believers to combine successful business ownership with Christ-exalting spiritual service.