George Young (15 July 1777 – 8 May 1848) was a Scottish divine, scholar and flood geologist.

Biography

George Young was born in Kirknewton south-west of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

to John Young and his wife Jean. George was born without a left hand and this situation led his parents to educate him for the ministry. At the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

he distinguished himself in mathematics and natural philosophy. He was a favorite student of Professor

John Playfair John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book ''Illu ...

who was, at that time, becoming the great promoter of James Hutton's

uniformitarian Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always operated in the universe in ...

geology. After receiving high honors upon completion of his degree in 1796, he studied theology under George Lawson at Selkirk for five years, receiving at the end of this period a licence to preach from the Presbytery of Glasgow. In 1806 he became the pastor of the Cliff Street chapel in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

where he served for 42 years. He obtained an M.A. degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1819. In 1826 he married Margaret Hunter. Though married for 20 years they had no children. Young could read and write Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and Italian with some acquaintance with Arabic, Chaldean and Syriac, and he developed his own shorthand, which is still undecipherable. He helped establish

Whitby Museum Whitby Museum is an independent museum in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, run by Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, a learned society and registered charity, established in 1823. It is located in a building opened in 1931 in Pannett ...

as the first secretary and a founding member of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society. He procured fossil and mineral collections for the

Yorkshire Philosophical Society The Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) is a charitable learned society (charity reg. 529709) which aims to promote the public understanding of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the archaeology and history of York and Yorkshire. ...

. Young wrote twenty-two books on many topics: ''inter alia'', the history of Whitby; the great solar eclipse of 1836; an acclaimed biography of Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

; the downfall of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

; and, a catalog of hardy garden plants. With John Bird as artist he wrote ''A Geological Survey of the Yorkshire Coast'' in 1822 published in Whitby. This book remains in print in facsimile. A second edition (1828) was printed and published in the north of England, Edinburgh, and London. The second edition contains seventeen plates: numbers one to fifteen, and number seventeen, are on one page, and number sixteen is a two-page spread. The plates are hand-coloured with watercolour: brush-strokes are clearly visible. The effect is exquisite and may reflect Young's passion for geology, and Bird's art. The title was followed by ''Scriptural Geology'' in 1838. George Young was immersed in fossil collecting and selling. He helped preserve preserving the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and museum. He promoted fossil collecting saying, "The researches of the geologist are far from being unworthy of the Christian, or the philosopher: for, while they enlarge the bounds of our knowledge, and present a wide field for intellectual employment and innocent pleasure, they may serve to conduct us to the glorious Being." On 8 May 1848, two years after the death of his wife, George Young died of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

at the age of 71 years.

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Notes

References

* * * * * * (second edition 1928) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, George 1848 deaths 1777 births Scottish geologists 19th-century Scottish writers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians 19th-century Presbyterian ministers 19th-century British geologists Deaths from influenza 19th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 19th-century Scottish theologians 19th-century Scottish scientists Scottish Presbyterian ministers ordained outside Scotland