John William Laing (1879-1978) was a builder and civil engineering contractor who took over the running of the Laing family construction business from his father in 1908. This photograph shows him signing the contract to build the new Coventry Cathedral, constructed between the mid-1950s to 1962. The photograph shows the following people, on the back row - The Bishop of Coventry (The Rt. Rev. Cuthbert K N Bardsley) and The Provost (The Very Rev. R T Howard) on the front row - the architect, Basil Spence; J W Laing; and the Chairman of the Reconstruction Committee, Sir Fordham Flower. A similar photograph taken at the same time was published in January 1957 in the Laing monthly newsletter Team Spirit.
This image was catalogued as part of the Breaking New Ground Project in partnership with the John Laing Charitable Trust in 2019-20.
This is part of the Volume: JLP01/01/026 Coventry Cathedral Church of St Michael; within the Series: JLP01/01 John Laing Photographic Collection Project Albums; within the Collection: JLP01 John Laing Photographic Collection
Contact Historic England Archive
Photographer: Cooper, Arthur
Architect: Spence, Basil
Mid 20th Century Cathedral, People Posed
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