John Lauder whose father was a merchant was apprenticed to Robert Campbell. In 1714 he and James Nesbit applied for the post of surgeon to Heriot's hospital in place of Archibald Fisher who had just died. Lauder was successful and was Surgeon to the Hospital from 1714 to 1737.
He was elected Deacon in 1714 and was appointed by the Town Council to a Committee to keep the peace at the time of the 1715 rebellion. In the next year he was paid £346.14s Scots for ‘drugs etc’ furnished by him to the Town Guard and he was one of those in attendance on Sir John Clerk in 1718.
In 1720 he was censured for his ‘disgraceful behaviour’ for siding with the Town Council in a dispute over the election of deacons.
Between 1714 and 1737 he was elected Deacon of the Incorporation on four occasions for a total of seven years and he died in March 1737 while in office as Deacon.
His son George was also a Fellow. He was elected Deacon in 1744 and was in office during the 1745 rebellion, as his father had been at the time of the earlier insurrection. He was therefore deeply involved in civic affairs at that time, as his father had been in the 1715 rebellion. He treated the wounded after the battle of Prestonpans with Alexander Wood amongst others. He then went with Prince Charlie to England, which resulted in his subsequent imprisonment in Inverness gaol and in London. At the trial of Provost Archibald Stewart for high treason in 1747 Lauder was one of the witnesses for the defence.
