Samuel Laing (travel writer)

He unsuccessfully contested the Orkney and Shetland parliamentary constituency in 1832 against incumbent MP George Traill.

Held after the passage of the Great Reform Act, this was the first election in which Shetlanders had the right to vote.

The loss of Laing's majority provoked a riot in Kirkwall, leading to one fatality.

Laing's subsequent attempt to lodge a legal challenge to his defeat was also unsuccessful.

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