[1] From around 1826 William lived at lodgings with a Secession minister, the Rev Mr Jamieson of East Linton.
[5] He was also for many years chaplain of the Female Benevolent Society, a director of Greenock Academy, and a member of the first Burgh School Board.
[6] In 1881 he succeeded Rev Thomas Main as Moderator of the General Assembly, the highest position in the Free Church.
When the Presbytery met to decide the matter of his retirement, so much was he looked up to, that one of their number said that he never had known a minister who stood in the same relation to his brethren as did Dr. Laughton.
[8] He fell ill on 1 November 1897 and was tended by Dr Patrick Heron Watson.