George Renny Young (July 4, 1802 – June 30, 1853) was a Scottish-born journalist, lawyer, author and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. He represented Pictou County in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1843 to 1851. He was born in

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

, the son of

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Col ...

and Agnes Renny, and came to Halifax with his family in 1814. He worked with his father for several years before studying at the

Pictou Academy Pictou Academy (PA), founded in 1815 by Dr. Thomas McCulloch, is a secondary school in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Prior to the twentieth century, it was a grammar school; a liberal, nonsectarian degree-granting college; and then a secondary school. Picto ...

. In 1824, he established the ''

Novascotian The ''Novascotian'' was a newspaper published in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It became one of the most influential voices in the British North American colonies in its nearly one century of existence. The paper was founded as the ''Nova Scoti ...

, or Colonial Herald'', a weekly newspaper. He sold the paper in 1827 so that he could devote his time to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1834 and joined his brother

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

in practice at Halifax. In 1834, he published ''The British North American colonies'' to demonstrate to Britain the importance of its colonies. In 1838, he married Jane Brooking in London. In 1842, he published ''On colonial literature, science and education'', a collection of lectures. In 1844, he published ''The prince and his protégé'', a romantic story published in as a serial. He served as a

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in the province's Executive Council from 1848 to 1851. In his final years, he suffered from fits of depression, digestive problems and acute pain. Young died in Halifax at the age of 50.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, George R 1802 births 1853 deaths Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia People from Falkirk 19th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people)