Peter Laurie

He obtained a clerkship in the office of John Jack, whose daughter Margaret he afterwards married, and subsequently set up for himself as a saddler, carrying on business at 296 Oxford Street.

He gained the reputation of being a good magistrate, and took an active part in the proceedings of the court of common council, where he showed himself a disciple of Joseph Hume.

[citation needed] The deceased was a son of the late Mr John Laurie, a plain man who lived upon his own lands at Stichill, Roxburghshire, and who earned a competency as a small agriculturist.

Arriving in London, with but few pounds and fewer friends, he applied himself in earnest to business; and having filled a clerk’s place in a saddler’s counting-house, and having married the daughter of his employer, set up on his own account as a merchant.

Eventually he rose to become a large contractor for the Indian army, and so thoroughly did he prosper in this business that he was enabled to retire, while still comparatively a young man, from active commercial engagements with something more than a competency.

The police annals of the City in 1855 disclosed a remarkable series of frauds on the part of Davidson and Gordon, who, by means of fictitious warrants and other gross impositions, had practised to an enormous extent upon the credulous confidence of the public.

To prevent these celebrated culprits from escaping by means of any technical plea, Sir Peter Laurie insisted on having the case placed in the hands of the City Solicitor, so that wholesale swindling should not triumph against the cause of justice.

Sir Peter Laurie led a public life of great value to the interests of philanthropy and social advancement, and filled a variety of offices, (such as the Presidency of the Bethlehem and Bridewell Hospitals,) which enabled him to take an active part in many of the leading movements of the day.

Sir Peter Laurie was a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant for the city of Westminster and for the county of Middlesex, and a Commissioner of Lieutenancy for London.