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Description area
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History
Frank Fortescue Laidlaw was born at Galashiels on 1 February 1876 but spent his childhood in Guildford. He was educated at Uppingham School and Trinity College, Cambridge, studying Zoology. In 1899 he joined the Cambridge University Expedition to Malaya, under the leadership of W. W. Skeat, returning to England in the following year. He was then appointed Lecturer and Assistant Demonstrator in Zoology at Owen's College, Manchester. In 1903 he turned to the study of medicine and qualified from St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, in 1909. In 1911 he took a practice at Uffculme, Devon, where he remained, except for three years in the R.A.M.C. in the first World War, until his retirement in 1945. He had a lifelong interest in natural history and for his services to Malayan natural history he was elected a corresponding member of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1920.
Laidlaw went to Malaya with Walter William Skeat (1866-1953), the anthropologist. However this letter is signed by W.O. Skeat and sent after W.W. Skeat's death. So presumably the author of the letter is William Oswald Skeat who was educated at Whitgift Grammer School, Croydon, and apprenticed under Gresley on GNR at the Doncaster Works. He gained experience in running the department at Peterborough, then moved to Stratford Works. He joined the staff of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1933, and edited their Proceedings from 1939. Between 1947 and 1950 he worked for British Council and from 1950 he was the Secretary of the Institution of Water Engineers.