Young, JAMES

Young, JAMES, of paraffin fame, was born in Glasgow, July 14, 1811. The son of a joiner and cabinet-maker, he learned his father's trade, but attended classes, especially in chemistry, at the Andersonian College and the Mechanics' Institution in the evening. He became assistant in Glasgow to Professor Graham in 1832, and in 1837 obtained a post in University College, London. As manager of chemical works near Liverpool (1839) and near Manchester (1843) he discovered cheaper methods of producing stannate of soda and chlorate of potash; and it was his experiments made between 1847 and 1850 which led to the manufacture of paraffin-oil and solid paraffin on a large scale (see PARAFFIN). A friend of Dr Livingstone, he sent out an expedition to Africa to find him. He endowed a chair of Technical Chemistry in the Andersonian College, and was made LL.D. by Glasgow University. He died May 13, 1883.