James ‘Paraffin’ Young was the Glasgow chemist who founded the world’s oil industry. By learning how to distil paraffin and lamp oil from coal and shale, he lit homes across the globe, made a great fortune, and used it to bankroll the African journeys of his friend David Livingstone.
A Drygate boy at Anderson’s College
Young was born in the Drygate, in the old heart of Glasgow, in 1811, the son of a cabinetmaker. He was apprenticed to his father but educated himself at night, taking evening classes in chemistry at Anderson’s College. There two friendships shaped his life: one with his teacher Thomas Graham, whose assistant he became, and one with a fellow student, the future explorer David Livingstone. His story is part of the history of Glasgow and education.
The birth of an industry
Working in the chemical trade in England, Young was struck in 1847 by oil seeping from a coal mine. When the natural supply ran dry, he reasoned that oil might be made artificially from coal, and after much experiment he succeeded, distilling from it the liquid he named paraffin oil. His patent of 1850 would prove one of the most valuable of the century.
Paraffin Young
In 1850 Young built the works at Bathgate in West Lothian, the first commercial oil works in the world, and founded the great Scottish shale-oil industry that at its height employed thousands and shipped paraffin oil and lamps around the globe. The business made him rich and gave him his nickname, ‘Paraffin’ Young.
Friend of Livingstone
Young never forgot the friends of his youth. He gave generously towards David Livingstone’s explorations of Africa, paid for an expedition to search for him, and brought Livingstone’s African servants home to Scotland. In tribute he had erected the statue of Livingstone that stands by Glasgow Cathedral, and the statue of his old professor Thomas Graham that stands in George Square.
Benefactor and pioneer
Young became President of Anderson’s College and endowed a chair of chemistry there, a benefactor as well as an inventor, and one of the men whose work made Glasgow the Second City of the Empire. He retired to the coast at Wemyss Bay and died in 1883, aged seventy-one.
Related questions
Who was James ‘Paraffin’ Young?
A Glasgow chemist and industrialist who founded the world’s oil industry by learning to distil paraffin from coal and shale.
Why was he called ‘Paraffin’ Young?
Because he invented a way to produce paraffin oil and wax and built a great industry on it, lighting homes around the world.
What was his connection to David Livingstone?
They were lifelong friends, having met as students in Glasgow. Young paid for much of Livingstone’s African exploration and for a search expedition, and erected his statue in Glasgow.
Where was James Young from?
He was born in the Drygate in Glasgow in 1811 and educated at Anderson’s College, now part of the University of Strathclyde.