Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Laurie, James Stuart
LAURIE, JAMES STUART (1832–1904), inspector of schools, born in Edinburgh in 1829, was younger brother of Simon Somerville Laurie [q. v. Suppl. II]. Educated in the Universities of Edinburgh, Berlin, and Bonn, he became a private tutor in the family of Lord John Russell. Becoming attracted to the study of educational theory and practice, he was chosen in 1854 inspector of schools, and was appointed by the government from time to time to make special educational investigations. In 1863 he resigned as a protest against the revised code of Robert Lowe (Lord Sherbrooke) [q. v.]. He was subsequently special commissioner to the African settlements, assistant commissioner under the royal commission of inquiry into primary education (Ireland), 1870, and director of public instruction in Ceylon. He entered the Inner Temple as a student on 2 Nov. 1867, and after leaving Ceylon was called to the bar on 6 June 1871.
Thenceforth he mainly devoted himself to literary work, which consisted of educational handbooks and science manuals, together with the following: 'Christmas Tales' (1863); 'Religion and Bigotry' (1894); ’The Story of Australasia' (1896); ’Gospel Christianity versus Dogma and Ritual' (1900). He died at Bournemouth on 13 July 1904. He married on 7 Oct. 1875 Emily Serafina, eldest daughter of Frederick G. Mylrea of London.
[The Times, 19 July 1904.]