Henry Laing: Part 1 From Birth to Prison
Henry Laing was the first of "us" to come to Australia, aboard the convict ship " Isabella " in September 1818. Born Wednesday, September 22, 1794, Henry Laing grew up in the shadows of Edinburgh Castle. His father John Laing & mother Elizabeth (nee Annan) were cowfeeders who lived near the junction of Fountainbridge & Thornybauk Roads. They had at least 4 children, Lillias (who married Charles Hunt), William, James and Elizabeth (who married William Atkien and continued to live in Thornybauk Road as a cowfeeder after her parent's & husband's death). As an adult, Henry was 5"5" tall with a ruddy complexion, pocked skin, brown hair and hazel eyes. At around the age of 21 Henry moved out of his parents home to live with a woman named Mary Graham. They shared a room in Curries Close which was in the cattle market district of Edinburgh known as the "grass market". Of the evening of or around May 26th, 1817 Henry reci...