Laura Elisabeth Colman

Laura was the eldest of the six children of Caroline and Jeremiah James Colman. Laura continued the family tradition of public involvement, serving as a member of Norwich City Council, among other public roles. She was the first woman to be appointed a justice of the peace for Norwich.

She shared many of her ideals and interests with her husband James Stuart, who was an educationalist, politician and scientist. After his death in 1913, Laura and her two sisters erected a block of 22 flats to house the victims of the Norwich flood of 1912. The flats were located beside the newly planted James Stuart Garden. Laura also commemorated her mother Caroline and brother Alan, who died at the age of 30, by publishing accounts of their lives.

After Laura's death in 1920, her two sisters Ethel and Helen purchased Suckling House, a 14th-century merchants' house in Norwich, in her memory. The building was converted and extended with the help of the sisters' brother-in-law, architect Edward Boardman, and was presented to the City of Norwich as Stuart Hall in 1925. It is still in public use as a cinema (Cinema City, Norwich).