Young, James, 1811-1883, chemist

Identity area

Type of entity

Person

Authorized form of name

Young, James, 1811-1883, chemist

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

      • James 'Paraffin' Young

      Identifiers for corporate bodies

      Description area

      Dates of existence

      1811-1883

      History

      James Young was born in Glasgow in 1811. He attended Professor Thomas Graham's chemistry lectures at Anderson's University in 1830, became Graham's assistant in 1832 and followed him to University College, London in 1837. He became manager of the chemical works of James Muspratt, St Helens, Lancashire in 1838, and moved to Tennants, Clow & Co of Ardwick, Manchester in 1844. In 1848, Young established an oil refinery at Alfreton, Derbyshire with James Oakes, and in 1850 he was granted a 14 year patent for a process to extract oil from cannel coal. He subsequently entered into partnership with Edward Binney and Edward Meldrum for the manufacture of oils from Boghead cannel coal at Bathgate, West Lothian, and began the sale of paraffin. Young embarked on considerable litigation against other companies who had attempted to infringe his patent. In 1865, Young bought out his business partners and a year later established Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company, with new works at Addiewell, Bathgate. He also patented other industrial processes.

      James Young was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1861 and of the Royal Society in 1873. From 1868-1877 he was President of Anderson's University, and a great benefactor to the University. He founded the Young Chair of Technical Chemistry in 1869. He was a lifelong friend of David Livingstone, who had been a medical student at Anderson's University in the 1830s, and funded Livingstone's African expeditions. He was a keen yachtsman and made long voyages with family and friends on his yacht, 'Nyanza'. Young continued his scientific experiments in retirement, notably on the velocity of light, with Professor George Forbes of Anderson's University. In 1879, Young was awarded the degree of LLD of St Andrews University.

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      Relationships area

      Related entity

      Forbes, George, 1849-1936, engineer and astronomer (1849-1936)

      Identifier of related entity

      P0005

      Category of relationship

      associative

      Dates of relationship

      1870s

      Description of relationship

      Forbes collaborated with Young on research into the velocity of light.

      Related entity

      Young Chair of Technical Chemistry, Glasgow (1869-1887)

      Identifier of related entity

      C0029

      Category of relationship

      associative

      Dates of relationship

      1869

      Description of relationship

      James Young founded the Young Chair of Technical Chemistry.

      Related entity

      Anderson's College, Glasgow (1796-1887)

      Identifier of related entity

      C0046

      Category of relationship

      associative

      Dates of relationship

      1868-1877

      Description of relationship

      James Young was president of Anderson's University (which later became Anderson's College).

      Related entity

      Graham, Thomas, 1805-1869, chemist (1805-1869)

      Identifier of related entity

      P0004

      Category of relationship

      associative

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      James Young was a pupil of Thomas Graham. He subsequently became Graham's assistant.

      Access points area

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Occupations

      Control area

      Authority record identifier

      P0032

      Institution identifier

      GB 249

      Rules and/or conventions used

      ISAAR(CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, International Council on Archives (2nd edition, 2003); Rules for the construction of personal, place and corporate names, National Council on Archives (1997).

      Status

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      Created by Victoria Peters, December 2009.

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