MB ChB Aberdeen 1905; DPH Manch 1912.
Laing studied medicine at Aberdeen and Manchester Universities. He held junior positions at Oldham Infirmary, Ear Nose and Throat Hospital Birmingham, and St Mary's Hospital Manchester. He then pursued a career in public health, taking various sanitary qualifications at the University of Manchester. He was medical officer of health for Droylsden Urban District and honorary pathologist for Ashton-under-Lyne District Infirmary. Laing was a member of MMS, the Royal Sanitary Institution, the Pathological Society of Great Britain, and a fellow of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Laing retired to Stockport in the 1960s.