Alison, I would not think any of those records I sent are for Sir James Laing, he was born in 1823 and died in 1901, so he was more than 20 years younger than your James. He married Mary Tanner in 1847 and Theresa Talbot Peacock in 1855, he never married an Isabella, so as I say, it is unlikely that any of the records i sent are for Sir James Laing. If you are researching the Laing shipbuilders I can recommend two books, "Where ships are born" by J W Smith and T S Holden and "Building ships on the north east coast" by J F Clarke if you have not read them already. Richard thanks very much Richard for your help some of them are indeed mine - problem is in those days everyone had the same name so there are some of Sir james Laing the shipbuilder and some of my James just son of Hall thanks i will sort them out Alison